Chapter 15: - Water Water Everywhere
"Yuge?"
Yugi paused at the top of the fourth floor stairs, looking back over his shoulder at Joey who was just behind him, the two running late, having been the last to finish showering after training this morning, "What's up?" Joey nodded towards the corridor and Yugi shot back up the steps and into the corridor. "Joey?"
Before Yugi was sure what was going on, Joey had grabbed the collar of his robes and lifted him off the ground. Fear and confusion swamped him, "Joey?"
"I don't know how much of it is true, and I trust you, but I'll give you the same warning I gave the other guys. Hurt my sister and you'll be sorry."
"Joey, I don't know what you're talking about!" Yugi yelped.
'Yugi, what's wrong?' Yami sounded worried, having sensed Yugi's sudden fear.
Joey let go, letting Yugi drop to the floor, "I'm just warning you." He said with a growl and a pat on the head, before stalking downstairs.
`Yugi!` Now Harry was worried, since Yami had gotten no answer from the hikari.
Yugi didn't respond, still stunned, the fear gone but the confusion increasing by the minute
'Yugi?'
Yugi got to his feet slowly, shaking his head to clear it.
'Damn it Yugi, answer me!' Yami was afraid and frustrated… Yugi could sense he was heading this way, along with Harry.
"I…I'm fine." Yugi finally got himself going again. "Have you seen Joey?"
'No… why?'
"Nothing."
`Yugi, what happened?`
"Nothing." Yugi headed down the stairs.
'Yugi…' Oh Yugi knew that tone, it was a 'tell-me-what-happened-or-else' tone and Yugi just knew that Yami wouldn't follow through on it so he didn't say anything. Instead he leant over the railings and waved down to Yami and Harry who looked back up at him.
"I'm ok, honest." Yugi sent, heading down to meet them. Joey had passed the two before Yugi reached them, since the staircases had changed at least twice since Joey had left. They headed down to breakfast, where Kari was giggling about something.
"You might want to read this." She said, handing Yugi a copy of yesterday's daily Prophet. It had been left in the Common Room overnight and Yugi had seen it in passing, but hadn't paid much attention to it. However it appeared Kari had grabbed it on her way down.
Yugi looked at the headline. Well, this explained Joey's mood, he just wondered how long it had taken Skeeter to get all this information.
Reading the article, it looked like she'd gone out to Japan to talk to Serenity's friends, interviewed people at Hogwarts and spoken to some people in the Duelling Circuit before giving the article to the editor of the paper…
Annoying and completely untrue, but she didn't half go out of her way to get a story.
So he had a new question, how had she been on school grounds for the Yule Ball?
Professor Dumbledore had banned her after her piece on the 'love triangle' between Kari, Harry and Hermione.
"Joey." Yugi looked at his best friend who look partially ashamed of himself, "You do realise everything Skeeter writes is junk right?"
Joey didn't look up causing Yami to snatch the paper away, read the article, put two and two together, roll his eyes and whack Joey round the head with it.
"Besides, I'd tell you if I was going to date your sister." Yugi continued, "Not let you find out in a newspaper."
"Big brother mode." Joey said, shrugging, "I did the same to Duke and Tristan."
"Just make sure you have the facts next time please." Yugi said, easily forgiving Joey.
"Sure."
"Come on, we'll be late." Ombre poked the two boys, to make them hurry up with their breakfast.
"We're coming!" Joey waved her off, shoving hot porridge into his gob.
Ombre rolled her eyes and looked over to the Ravenclaw table, where Kari and Seto were talking quietly… Ombre wondered what they were on about.
Kari wandered back over to the Gryffindor table, looking at her notes, lost in thought.
"Hikari?"
"Tell you later." Kari promised, "We've got a surprise planned."
"Surprise?" Yami asked warily.
"Don't worry, you'll like it." Kari promised.
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"Miss Ironhide?"
Kari paused at the voice. She, Ombre and Hermione were on their way to the library. The Gillyweed for Harry had come in this morning, just in time for the Second Task which was being held tomorrow and she had the spell she was going to use down perfect, all the Clan paperwork had arrived, the potion would be ready tomorrow, so they'd sign that after the task and the only reason she was going to the library was because she wanted to look something up about merpeople.
"Miss Golden?" She asked, waving Ombre and Hermione on.
"You wanted to talk?" Robyn asked, as Ombre and Hermione shot up the stairs and out of sight.
Kari nodded.
Robyn directed the young woman to her office, and sat down, waiting for Kari to take a seat before asking, "Well?"
"I…" Kari took a deep breath, "Robyn, I don't hate you." She burst out, "I could never hate you! I'm sorry for whatever I've done to make you think that I hate you!"
"No contact. Something happened after... after you left. My visions have gotten worse." Robyn sighed, and draped herself messily over a chair. "I thought things were bad before..."
"I tried to reach you, used my wages on credit, flooded your inbox, but you never replied…" Kari said truthfully, "What happened? Why are your visions worse?"
Robyn nodded, "Do you know what effects memory charms have on Seers?"
Kari shook her head, "I know that repeated use can cause problems with how someone's memories work…" Kari trailed off, getting angry for her friend, working out where this was going, "Who do I have to kill?"
"No killing. I'm pressing charges. It was my father. He was... displeased at some of my actions."
"Git." Kari growled, trying to calm down, hands clenched into fists, "What could you have done that was so bad that he messed around with your memories?"
"I don't know." She shrugged with a half smile, "The memory is gone."
Kari growled, "I lost contact with you around the time you sent me the Orb, but I wasn't there… I couldn't help… I'm sorry." Guilt flooded her, "If I'd been there, I might have noticed something, I'm sorry."
"I sent you the Orb? What orb? Can I see?"
Kari took off her Millennium Orb, which had been hidden (badly) by her robes, "It's the Millennium Orb… we think. It's the item Ombre's linked to… oh… you wouldn't know…" Kari handed over the Orb.
Robyn grinned. "The Orb of light, of dawning days, said to hold the wisdom of those who have gone before, but only unlockable by half a twin made whole. It's been in my family for..." The grin faded, and Robyn shivered. "Oh."
"The Orb's the reason… you sent it to me to protect me from the Shadows…" Kari bit her lower lip, "I freed Ombre when I touched it, that was what it meant, right, half a twin? Her mind's linked to mine… making me whole…" Kari shook her head, "I didn't know it had been in your family for years, I didn't even think about it. Robyn, do you think that's why your dad was so mad?"
"Not years, centuries. Magical families go back a long way." She handed back the orb. "It's a powerful magical artefact, and I gave it to a Muggle... he must have been so mad."
"But if it was a Millennium Item, shouldn't it have gone over to Japan anyway? I mean, won't Yugi need it?"
"There are only seven Millennium Items. The Orb is something else altogether."
Kari looked at the Orb in Robyn's hand, she'd only ever known it as the Millennium Orb, but if it wasn't from around there, where had it come from… "Robyn, you remember Ombre, right? You met her at the Quidditch World Cup."
"The young woman living off your magic?"
"Ombre's not… she has her own magic. She's my dark, like Yami is to Yugi." Kari was confused, "As long as she keeps her energy up and eats well, she doesn't have to live off of magic."
"There are many types of magic Kari, and I'm not talking wand magic."
"Do Ombre and the Orb have the same type of magic?" Kari asked, "Because I already know it's not Shadow Magic, though we can draw off of them when we have none of our own left. Is Ombre something else, like the Orb is? Or is she a yami, truly? The dark to my light?"
"Ombre is... complicated. She's a construct of lots of different magics. My best bet would be primary shadow, dawn, blood and twin magics. She's not dark, I have no idea what put that into your head. I don't know what a yami is, and I really don't think I should tell you what Ombre is."
"A yami is a dark…" Kari paused, "This is complicated, we haven't had to explain it to anyone in years, they're spirits who were trapped within a Millennium Item and were freed by their hikaris or their lights, also known as their reincarnations. A yami is the dark half of the soul of the person that was sealed and a hikari is the light half that was allowed to move through the reincarnation cycle." Kari explained, "Each yami can only be supported by their hikari and each hikari needs their yami, it's a partnership that once entered, we cannot break, nor would we want to. Yami is Yugi's yami, Bakura is Ryou's and Ombre is mine, but…" She frowned, "If Ombre isn't dark, then she can't be a yami…" So what does that make me? Kari wondered, If Ombre isn't my dark half, I'm not a hikari, so what am I?
"Ombre can not be dark. She is not the other half of your soul. Your soul has been whole since your brother died. You could not have activated the Orb unless your soul was whole. I will not tell you what Ombre is, it is not for me to say."
Rai… The pain was deep, though it was seven years this March that he had been killed and Kari had to force her mind back on track, "The Japanese have a saying. A pair of twins is the soul of one incredible person, split into two, and they can only ever reach their full potential if one of the twins dies…" Kari said, thinking, "So maybe I've been whole all this time, and that's what gave me my magic… and I never realised it..." Kari nodded, not wanting to force the issue when she was having a civil and sane conversation with her friend, "Besides We'll just have to work what the Orb and Ombre are, we can do it, we normally do." She sighed, "I'm sorry, for running away from my problems, and causing you more."
"Ombre knows already, and I think you should go now, I have work to do."
"Ombre doesn't have any…" Kari shook her head, "Alright, I have to find that thing on merpeople for tomorrow's task anyway." She stood up, "See ya later." She said, giving her friend a grin and picking up her bag.
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When the group gathered for dinner that evening, even with the second task tomorrow, it had to be said that Kari and Harry were quite considerably calmer then they had been for the first task, through the nerves were there if you looked hard enough.
"Come seek us where our voices sound," Kari sang under her breath as she leant back, having eaten as much as she was going to considering she had to be underwater for an hour at the most tomorrow. "We cannot sing above the ground."
"An hour long you'll have to look," Harry continued startling everyone, "And to recover what we took."
Kari smiled at him, having already heard about Harry's plan to take some gillyweed down with him, just in case. In theory it should last an hour, but they knew better then to take that risk.
"I wonder what the merpeople will take." Yugi said, sipping his hot chocolate and looking up from his plate, which was still half full from his second lot.
"I have no idea." Kari said, "It could be anything, it wasn't really specific about it."
"Helpful." Ron said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
"Very." Harry agreed.
"Early night?" Ombre asked.
"I need to talk with you." Kari said, "But it can wait till we're up in the dorm. Other then that I think I'll turn in early."
"I doubt I'll get much sleep." Harry nodded, "But I'm not staying up too late, there's not much point and it'll only effect my performance tomorrow."
"Well…" Hermione looked around, "I did brew these." She held up two vials, "Eight hours of dreamless sleep."
"I'll take it." Harry nodded, accepting a vial, "As long as no one allows me to sleep through the task."
"Harry, we don't' let you sleep through training, what makes you think we'd let you sleep through the task?"
"I am not training tomorrow morning." Kari told them. "The task's at ten."
"We were going to let you two sleep in tomorrow, wake you up when we got back."
"Yeah, an hour's swimming is more then enough exercise."
"In that case, I'll take one." Kari said, "I just can't believe that they've got the nerve to go through our stuff to put down in the lake. I swear if they take my Deck or Duel Disk, I'm going to hurt someone." Kari took the vial from Hermione, with a small smile. "Thanks sis."
"Its official tomorrow, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Uh huh." Joey nodded.
"Can't wait." Harry grinned.
"We just need to ask Grandpa and Sirius, when they get here."
"I think Gramps'll accept."
"What about Sirius?" Harry asked, worried.
"We can add him at a later date if he says no and changes his mind later." Kari advised.
There was silence for a moment, remembering how easy it had been to get Sirius to agree to letting Harry become a member of the Clan… not… and then they all stood up, headed up to the Gryffindor Tower, sent their good nights to their Duel Monster partners and then Harry downed his potion, and was out like a light a minute later.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Ombre asked as Kari started changing into her pjs.
"I spoke to Robyn today." Kari small smile advised the dark that it had gone well, then she frowned, "She said something you might be interested in."
"What is it?"
"The Orb isn't a hidden Millennium Item." Kari answered, "It's apparently the Orb of Light, and it supposedly holds the memories of those who have gone before us." She said, hand on the Orb, eyes closed, then they opened and brown met magenta, "It was in Robyn's family for centuries."
"And she sent it to you?" Hermione asked.
Kari nodded, "It was to protect me from the Shadows, but I was a half made whole, so I activated it."
"Huh?"
"A pair of twins is one incredibly powerful soul split into two, so when…" Kari's throat constricted and she looked down.
"When Rai died," Ombre continued for her hikari, "Kari's soul would have become… oh." Ombre wheeled around to look at her hikari, eyes wide. They'd never considered it before…
"I wasn't a half when I met you."
Hermione frowned, "But doesn't that mean that Ombre isn't a yami, if she's not the other half of your soul?"
"Exactly."
"Then… if I'm not a yami… what am I?"
"Robyn said you already knew."
"Hmm. Seers, strange creatures."
Kari frowned, "If the Orb holds memories, like Robyn said, then you have to have some access to them and so do I."
"Not tonight." Hermione said firmly.
"Not unless you want to try Ombre." Kari said, "If not it can't be tomorrow night either." Kari said, "We've got the Clan to worry about."
"I… will try." Ombre said, "Did she say where to look?"
"No." Kari shook her head, "She said you knew."
"I will think about it." Ombre nodded, "In the meantime, you must sleep."
"Alright." Kari nodded, handing over the Orb of Light, "Night girls." She downed the potion and was asleep in moments.
Ombre nodded towards the stairs and they were joined by the guys, so deep in thought that she missed the whole conversation going on.
"I'm going to go see Boh." Yugi said, "We had a run in Slytherins earlier and I just want to check he was alright for the rest of the day."
"I'll come." Yami said, "I'm not going to sleep for a while."
"I don't think you should, Yami." Hermione said, shaking her head, "It's easier to get around unnoticed when there's only one of you, and Filch'll be out and about soon."
"Filch can…"
"Do you want another detention with Robyn?"
"No."
"Then stay here."
"Fine." Yami growled.
"I'll be fine." Yugi grinned, "I'm just going to talk to Boh, it's not like the Duel Monsters aren't on Guard Duty."
"Alright, just be careful."
"I will." Yugi promised, and headed out of the Common Room.
"You alright Ombre?" Joey poked her.
"I'm not a yami."
Everyone froze at that statement. "Ombre?"
"I… don't want to talk about it." Ombre shook her head, "I have to find out what I am first."
"What do you mean?"
"Just leave me alone." Ombre stormed out of the Common Room.
"I'm going after her." Yami told them, leaving quickly.
"What was that about?"
"Kari spoke to Robyn today…"
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"Ombre?"
"Leave me alone Pharaoh, how would you feel if you'd been told your entire existence is a lie? That you weren't who or what you thought you were?"
"What happened?"
"Kari was whole before she met me." Ombre snapped, tear blinded, "I'm not her dark half, I never was."
"What?"
"I'm not a yami, I don't know what I am, but everything I've known for the last four years has been a lie!"
"Has the link to Kari changed?"
"No but…"
"Has the link to Shadowfae changed?"
"No…"
"Are you still friends with us?"
"Yes."
"And are you still interested in becoming Clan?"
"Of course." Ombre wondered where Yami was going with this.
"Then the only thing I can see has changed is the fact that you're not a dark like me and Bakura, if anything it gives you an advantage. You're going to be saner then us two at the end of this."
"But who am I? Robyn said this damn thing holds answers." She glared at the Orb.
Yami smiled and poked the Orb, which was now being worn by Ombre. "If it does hold memories, it probably has the answers." The smile died, Yami's face paling. "Yugi!" Yami turned and ran for it, Ombre in pursuit.
"Yami? Yami, what?"
"Yugi! I've lost the link with Yugi!"
Ombre swore and continued chasing Yami up the stairs, towards the Monster's Wing.
'Mahado! Find him!' Yami's order was short and to the point.
We're already looking! Mahado replied just as urgently.
Rushing down the corridor, Ombre watched in shock as something flashed past her and Yami cried out before he hit the deck.
She drew her wand, but was mid turning around when she too was hit by a Stunner and went down.
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"Kari, Kari, you've got to wake up!"
"Go'way Ginny."
"Kari's its important, Ombre never came back last night!"
"What?" As sleepy as she was, the after effects of the potion she guessed, that had her up.
"Hermione, Yugi and Yami are missing too, Harry's throwing a fit."
Kari tried to sense where her dark was.
There was nothing.
"Is Harry…?"
"He can't sense them either."
"Why now?" Kari snarled, "What time is it?"
"Half eight."
Kari swore in English, French and Egyptian, throwing on her swimsuit and jogging bottoms, along with her trainers, no time for socks, "Could it be someone trying to distract us from the task?"
"You and Harry have to compete, it's a binding magical contract; your magical cores will rebound and quite possibly kill you if you don't."
"Dumbledore failed to mention that one." Kari shot down the stairs, "But then that wouldn't be the only thing he hasn't mentioned."
The gang were gathered in the Common Room, all of them, and Kari caught Harry's eyes, "We have to find them."
"No." Joey shook his head. "We'll find them; you have to concentrate on the task."
"But….!" Harry and Kari echoed each other.
"No, this could be exactly what whoever has taken them wants, to distract the pair of you from the task. We can't let that happen."
Kari's hands clenched into fists.
"But, I can't…" Harry started.
"…You have to." Seto butted in, "There's nothing more you can do, the Duel Monsters are searching top to bottom, we'll start soon; your friends wouldn't want you to lose your magic because of them."
"I can't lose her again." Kari shook her head.
"You won't, I promise." Seto said, "But you will leave this to us, got it?"
"But Seto…"
"I swear on my deck and wand, Harry, we'll find Yugi and Yami, just focus on the task."
"We'll split up." Joey was saying, "I'm sure they're fine, but Ginny, Mokuba and Luna will go with Kari and Harry to the lake, and make sure they get through the task safely. Muto Grandfather will be waiting there, so some of us had better show."
Seto nodded, "In the meantime, Joey and I will help the Duel Monsters search for them and we won't stop until they're safe, got it?"
Harry nodded.
"Thank you."
"They'll be fine."
Kari froze. "Oh no."
"What?"
"Hermione knew something was going to happen, why else would she specifically give us 'dreamless sleep' potions."
"I'm gonna kill her."
"You may not need to if Yami finds out she allowed someone to take Yugi."
"Harry, do you have the gillyweed?"
Harry nodded.
"Kari, have you prepared what you need to?"
"Yes, but I need…"
"What?"
"Seto, were you there when I taught Hermione what to do, just in case?"
Seto nodded.
"Do you remember it?"
"Yes."
"Thank the Gods. You have to come to the lake."
"Alright, I'll be there and I'll be ready, just in case. Now go and eat."
"I'll go with them." Mokuba said, and his girls agreed, heading down to breakfast so that the food had gone down before they had to enter the water.
"This is insane." Joey complained as they split up to search, "Did anyone think to check the Hospital Wing?"
"Eight times already."
"Where are they?"
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"Muto Grandfather. Black Sirius, Dursley Dudley." Kari bowed, "Welcome."
"Kari, Harry." Muto Grandfather accepted the hug from the young woman, and looked around, "We're short on numbers aren't we? Where are Yugi, Yami, Ombre and Hermione?"
"Umm, that's a very good question." Joey admitted, "They never came back to the dorm last night, we've been looking all morning."
Sirius frowned, "Can you think of any reason they might not have come back?"
"Yugi went to talk to Boh. Ombre needed some space." Joey ticked them off on his fingers, "Yami was with Ombre and Professor McGonagall came and collected Hermione for something late last night." He said as they walked down to the lake, "I'm going to go back up to the castle once everyone else is at the lake, to help the Duel Monsters."
"Harry, do you mind if I go with him?" Sirius asked.
Harry shook his head, "I'm really worried about them."
"I told you, we'll find them." Joey promised as they reached the edge of the lake, where the boats were to take them out to the stands. "Now do you have everything?"
Harry gave an irritated sigh at being asked that for the thirtieth time and pulled out two lots of gillyweed, "Yes."
Kari held up her wand, "Yes."
"And you're both going to come back relatively unscathed, right?"
"Right." The pair agreed.
"Good luck then." Joey ruffled Harry's hair and hugged Kari.
"Be careful kiddo." Sirius told Harry.
"You too." Harry nodded.
Sirius and Joey headed back up and the rest piled into boats. Once in and on their way, Seto turned to Kari, glaring, "You do realise this is probably the stupidest thing you've ever done, right?"
"Freediving?" Kari asked, "I think it rates a three."
"Only a three?"
"I am transfiguring a dolphin to get me down there and back." Kari pointed out, "They can only dive for fifteen minutes and I've gone swimming in the lake so many times I know where the merpeople live."
You'll have a maximum of seven minutes before you'll have to surface again, I timed you, remember? Do you think you can do it?"
Kari nodded. "I think so."
"It's a bit late to be thinking so."
"I should be looking for Ombre."
"You have to finish the task. Get it over with and then go look for her."
"We're here."
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Harry said, turning to Kari, "Good luck."
"You too."
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"What exactly is going on?" Sirius asked Joey as they started searching the Dungeons.
"Basically Yugi and Yami are targets for kidnapping attempts, like Harry, and they both went missing last night, along with our Muggle-Born friend, Hermione, and Kari's 'twin sister' Ombre." Joey sighed, "We've been searching all morning but we couldn't let Harry or Kari miss the task."
"Where haven't you looked?"
"Teacher's lounge, the Slytherin Common Rooms, Teacher's private rooms…" Joey listed the places, "Seto checked the Ravenclaw Common Room, Ryou checked the Hufflepuff one and we searched top to bottom in both the Gryffindor one and the Monster's Wing."
"Can't get into the Slytherin Common Room?"
"We tend to have trouble with people from Slytherin House, well except Yami's girlfriend, Astraea, she's alright."
"Yami's dating a Slytherin?"
"It was originally because of the Yule Ball, we had this stupid game going, you got more points if managed to get a Slytherin to date you if you were in Gryffindor."
Sirius snorted, "He win?"
"No." Joey laughed, for a moment the worry was gone, "I'm in the lead at the moment."
"Why?" Sirius sounded interested.
"Cordi and Alecia." Joey grinned, "My Hufflepuff girls."
"Two?" Sirius sounded impressed.
"I asked both of them by accident." Joey grinned. Then the worry was back as he wondered what the time was, "I wish I knew where Astraea was, she could check the Common Room for us." He sighed, "I bet she's watching the task though."
Sirius grinned, "I might have an idea. Let's start from the Gryffindor Common Room."
"Why?"
"What's my animagus form?"
Joey's eyes widened and then he face palmed, "Why didn't we think of that earlier?"
"Shall we?"
They rushed up the stairs, Sirius bounding up the stairs in dog form, following Joey up to the boy's dorm where he sniffed Yami's bed, barked and shot back down again.
Joey followed him, as he led Joey first down the stairs, and then back up the stairs, and then back down again, onto the grounds, and across them.
Joey couldn't help wondering where they were going, right up until they reached the Whomping Willow, where Sirius changed back into a human. "Through there."
"The Shrieking Shack…" Joey growled, "Should've guessed."
"Well?"
"Let's go."
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Kari broke the surface, panting for breath.
It was fifteen to twenty minutes into the task and she'd been unlucky with her first dive, though she could safely say that it took three minutes to reach the bottom with the dolphin she'd transfigured at the start of the task, she had been off by a few meters and while it wouldn't have mattered had she been doing this a sane way, freediving it, she had no spare moments to waste.
The mistake with the second dive had been her own, when she'd gotten down far enough she'd seen what or rather who had been taken and the shock had caused her to let out her breath. Combine that with the fact she'd had to blast away a couple of Grindylows, and she'd reached the surface, coughing and spluttering.
Yugi, Hermione, Ombre and some unknown she had to guess was related or important to Fleur in some way were down there…
Deliberately hyperventilating for a moment, she took a deep breath and directed the dolphin to dive. Holding on tightly, she allowed it to tow her to the bottom, where Harry was already untying Yugi.
She caught his eye as she freed Ombre, who was pale and unmoving… if Ombre had drowned, there would be hell to pay.
Tapping her watch, she watched as Harry nodded and then she grabbed Ombre tightly and had the dolphin tow her to the surface. There just wasn't enough time, the way she was doing it, to stick around, and though she surfaced with Ombre, she had every intention of going back.
Ombre awoke as the fresh air hit them and Kari gasped for air. "Hikari?"
"Ombre?… Oh thank Ra… what happened?" Kari gasped, light headed and dizzy, having only just broken the surface in time.
"Dunno, Yami and I were attacked when we went looking for… Yugi! Where is he?"
"Still down there… I'm going back in a minute." Kari growled, "Thanks Seto." She nodded as he helped Ombre out of the water and then offered her his hand, but she shook her head. "Yugi and Hermione are still down there… along with a girl…"
"It's Fleur's sister. Fleur got attacked by the Grindylows, she can't complete the task."
"And no one's gone down for her?"
"We're not allowed to interfere with the task."
"I'm gone." Kari said, taking a deep breath and diving, however she didn't get very far before she was stopped at trident point, by one of the merpeople.
"One only."
Kari shook her head and drew her wand, the mermaid… she guessed it was a mermaid, they didn't look like conventional mermaids, didn't move.
She pointed her wand at it and in exchange had the tip of the trident pressed into her throat.
"Please! My friends are still down there!" Kari pleaded, then realised what she'd done and rose to the surface quickly, coughing and spluttering, and before she could do anything, she'd been hauled out of the water by Mr Muto and Seto and they were helping her expel the water from her lungs.
"Mermaids." She coughed, on her hands and knees and coughing out water as Ombre rubbed her back, "Can't get back down there."
Half a moment later Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were at her side too, "Miss Ironhide? Both of you?"
"Completed the task, Professor." Kari gasped, before she had another coughing fit.
"Here." Madam Pomfrey handed the two blankets and pepper up potion. "Let me check you over, both of you."
Kari just nodded, now panting but no longer forcibly expelling water, watching and waiting… the spell on the dolphin had faded, it had to be around the hour mark… the rock she'd used sinking to the bottom of the lake…
"Thank you Professor."
"I should have known that this was what you wanted the spell for." Professor McGonagall nodded, a tactic smile showing that she accepted the thanks.
"Yugi… Harry… Hermione…"
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"Let me." Sirius said, and was about to change back into his dog form when Joey summoned Baby Dragon, who darted forward, under the waving branches of the Whomping Willow and pressed the knot which froze it.
"Shall we?" Joey asked.
Sirius nodded, letting Joey take the lead, following Joey up the darkened corridor, lit only by the lumos from their wands.
"Of course if they're not here, and we don't find em, the gang's going to kill me."
Joey! Joey straightened up, bashing his head.
"OW! WHAT?" Joey snapped, having bashed his head. "Did you find them Tobias?"
Kisara says that Kaiba says that Ombre, Hermione and Yugi were taken as part of the second task and Kari's already rescued Ombre, but she can't get back past the merpeople.
"Well at least we know where they are…"
Harry's still down there. Tobias advised.
"Joey?" Sirius asked, "I didn't say anything…"
"My partner Duel Monster, Tobias, who's a Red Eyes Black Dragon, just informed me telepathically that Yugi, Hermione and Ombre were taken as part of the task. Kari's already saved one, she had to surface, but Harry's still down there, so…" Joey shook his head, semi-amused, "Whoever thought that this was a good idea is going to get an earful." He snorted.
"So it's just Yami that's missing?"
"I bet it's something to do with the task, they couldn't have captured and drugged Yugi without Yami causing a riot, so they would have had to have taken him down too. I just want to know where they're keeping him and then I'll have a few words with them." Joey's tone turned dark for a moment, and Sirius shivered slightly, his Godson was going to become Clan with these people and he wasn't sure how to take Joey from one moment to the next, and he was one of the saner ones.
They entered the Shrieking Shack, which was dustier and more cobweb infested then the last time they had been in here, but no less wreaked.
"If Yami was awake, there'd be no way they could hold him here." Joey said, looking around and not even having to think about it, "But if they've drugged him, it wouldn't be hard to keep him prisoner."
Sirius wondered what Joey meant by that, he knew Yami and Yugi were the keepers of some pretty powerful magic, but was Yami really powerful enough to escape from someone like Dumbledore?"
Reverting to his dog form, Sirius continued sniffing for Yami's scent, sneezing as he breathed in some of the dust, leading Joey upstairs and down the hall to the last room, where there was a clean room, with fresh linen and robes, and on the bed…
"There you are." Joey sighed in relief at the sight of Yami and cast the diagnostic spell that Madam Pomfrey had taught them after Harry's Shadow Game with Draco, "Tobias, I found him. He's been dosed with a sleeping potion."
I'll tell the others.
"Is he ok?" Sirius asked.
"I think so; he just appears to be asleep." Joey said finally, "I can't wait to see the fireworks that erupt over this one, they're going to be huge."
"You sound rather cheerful about that."
"Yami doesn't like being drugged, he certainly won't like the fact Yugi was drugged and he will want to play a Shadow Game with whoever drugged both him and Yugi and put Yuge in danger." Joey growled, "And to be perfectly honest, if I had his powers, I would too."
"What's a Shadow Game?"
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"You knew." Seto accused Hermione, once she'd found the group, having been rescued by Krum around ten minutes ago.
"I knew they'd take someone important to Harry and Kari, but I knew it couldn't be Yami, because he can't swim, so I figured that it would be Yugi and Ombre. I had no idea Yami would go missing on top of that." Hermione said, "I figured that it was better that Harry and Kari got a full night's sleep without worrying."
"Harry, Yugi and Gabrielle are still down there." Kari said, "And it's been an hour and twenty minutes."
"He'll be on his second lot of Gillyweed by now."
"We should go down and…"
"There!" Ginny was pointing excitedly, there where three people had surfaced…
"Harry! Yugi!" As exhausted as she was, Kari was on her feet, waving enthusiastically. "Over here!" Madam Pomfrey was back, having been checking on Krum.
Harry was low in the water, still having gills, but he was supporting Fleur's sister on one side, while Yugi supported her on the other, and after getting help from Seto and Mokuba to get out of the water, Harry swam around in the water a little longer, waiting for the second batch of Gillyweed to wear off.
Meanwhile the judges were deliberating on the score. Dumbledore had called them over when Yugi and Gabrielle had been pulled onto the platform and Madam Pomfrey had checked them over.
"What about Yami?" Harry asked.
"What's wrong with…?" Yugi asked, concerned.
"He was drugged, he's ok, but he hasn't woken up yet." Seto said, "Joey and Sirius found him."
"Thank the Gods." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, making Kari grin, still amused at hearing Yami's phrases coming from Harry's mouth.
"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice reverberated off the stands and everyone fell silent to listen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the Champions as follows."
"Here we go…"
"Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
There was applause from the crowds.
"Miss Kari Ironhide, who used transfiguration to create an aquatic creature to assist her in reaching the bottom of the lake, was the first to arrive safely with her hostage and well within the time limit. Therefore, we award her, the full fifty points."
"Oh yeah!" Mokuba crowed, delighted, as there was another round of applause and Kari gave everyone a high five.
"Vicktor Krum used an incomplete form of self-transfiguration which was none the less effective, and was the second to return with his captive, though he was ten minutes outside the time limit."
Harry frowned, he had thought that he had returned outside the time limit, but not by as much as that, and if Krum was that much over…
"And as such, we award Mr Krum, forty points."
"And finally, though Mr Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect, he was the last to return with his hostage and he was well outside of the time limit. However, Merchieftainess Murcus has informed me that Mr Potter was first to reach the hostages and his delay was because of his determination to return all the hostages to safety, not only his own."
"You were successful too." Kari said, giving Harry a grin.
"Most of us feel that this shows outstanding moral fibre, and as such, we award Mr Potter forty-eight points!"
"Yes!" Kari yelled, leaning over the water to give Harry a high five, as cheers erupted.
"The third and final task will be held on the twenty-fourth of June, the Champions will be informed exactly a month before. Thank you for your support of the Champions."
They were back in the boats before they knew it, and an exhausted Harry and Kari fell asleep before they reached the shore and had to be woken up.
"So tired." Kari complained, she was awake more by adrenaline then anything, and she felt ill.
"Nearly back to the school."
Harry felt Yami's end of the link open and he looked over at Yugi, who was giving a relived smile. `You ok Yami?`
'Who is it I have to have words with?' Yami asked; his tone so dark that Harry gave Yugi a startled look. Yugi had bitten his bottom lip.
"Yami, you can't…!" Yugi sounded frantic.
'They attacked us, drugged us, they put you in danger!'
"But I'm OK, Harry's OK, Ombre's OK, no one was hurt…"
`I'm ok, honest, Yami!`
'They can't get away with it.'
"If they hadn't attacked us, they wouldn't have had anyone for Kari and Harry to rescue, and they would have been expelled from Hogwarts."
'They should never have put you in danger.' Yami's anger wasn't breaking.
"Yami…"
`I'm sorry Yami, that you and Yugi were attacked because of me, but I will repay you, I promise…`
'Harry…' Yami's mental state didn't change, but his tone lightened for a moment.
`I don't know how yet, but I promise I'll think of something I can do to help you both.`
"See? You need to calm down, Yami, we're both fine, nothing went wrong and I'm sure there were fail safes in place just in case." Actually he wasn't, but he wasn't going to tell Yami that while he was in this mood, "Besides, do you really want to bring down the wrath of the English Ministry, to go with the American one?"
'Yugi…'
"What's wrong?" Seto asked, having caught Yugi and Harry's expressions.
"Yami."
"What's wrong with him?"
"We should be glad that he's in the Shrieking Shack." Yugi advised, "And nowhere near Dumbledore."
Seto sighed, "He really needs a lid on that temper of his."
"I know this, you know this…" Yugi turned to his Grandpa, while Harry told Yami exactly what had happened in the lake, and dealt with Yami's temper, "Grandpa, do you remember what I wrote in that last letter?"
"About the Clan signing that was going to happen this afternoon?"
Yugi nodded.
"We," And he indicated everyone of their group present, "Were wondering if you wanted to be a Founder of the Domino Clan."
"You want me to be a Founder?" Solomon sounded surprised.
"Uh huh." Yugi nodded, "It would mean that you'd be the oldest, so if anyone who was made an orphan, you would automatically become their guardian and you'd have English, Japanese, American and Egyptian citizenship… I know it's a lot of responsibility but…"
"I'll do it." Grandpa said, nodding, "The oldest otherwise, would be Kaiba right?"
"That's right; we're going to ask Sirius too…"
"I'll sign; Kaiba's always busy with his company and Sirius… well…"
"Mr Muto?" Harry asked.
"It's nothing Harry." Grandpa assured him, "Sirius is Sirius."
"You're sure about this?"
"I would be happy to be a Founder of the Domino Clan."
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"Yami, Yami calm down." Joey called, as Yami started glowing purple. "Pharaoh!" Joey snapped. Tobias, get Mahado to talk to him. I knew he was going to be bad, but this is ridiculous!
"Joey?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius, meet Yami after someone's put Yugi in danger." Joey sighed, "And Yami, if you don't calm down, I'm going to set Yugi on you when we get out of here, or worse I'll set Kari's friend on you."
Yami visibly forced the Shadows away, but anger still was visible in his stance and features, "Sorry."
"Just remember that you have to keep your temper in check, I don't particularly fancy getting blasted halfway across the room by a stray bolt of Shadow Magic, thank you very much." He twated Yami round the back of the head, "Think please."
Yami glared, and then the glare softened to still irritated amusement, "You, asking me to think before I act?"
"Yeap… hey I think!" Joey protested.
Poor Sirius was incredibly confused, one minute Joey had been acting as if Yami was about to blow them all to smithereens and now they were joking around… it was too late to rescinded his permission for Harry, the forms had gone in, but was it safe?
He should have spent more time around them before agreeing to it…
"So?" Joey asked, "Party?"
"We'd better go before Hermione shuts it down." Yami agreed.
"She's not that bad."
"With the Clan ritual tonight? She'll be a nightmare."
"Ok, you might have a point."
"I just hope that being a Clan Founder means that I'm classed as human again."
"You're not at the moment?"
"Nope, he's a pet." Joey laughed. "Watch out, he bites!"
"I do not!"
"One potentially dangerous magical creature over here!" Joey laughed, pointing at Yami. "The best way to keep yourself safe is to make sure that you have a Yugi close at hand."
"I'm not that bad!"
"Wanna bet?"
"I'm not that bad!"
Joey laughed, "Come on, I'm hungry, I haven't eaten all morning."
"Why not?"
"Just come on!"
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"We come together," Hermione said, "To officially found the Domino Clan."
They'd changed the name on the form at the last minute, as they had been informed that they couldn't use that family name without permission of several members of that family and since there was only one left…
"After tonight, we'll be one family. Under Clan law, we shall stand together."
They were in the Monster's Wing, the Common Room of which had been cleared so they could all get in, and the Duel Monsters had gone home, so they didn't interfere.
Sirius had gone home already, taking Dudley with him, but Solomon was stood next to his grandsons, and he was amused to think that soon all these young men and women would be his grandchildren.
"We stand side by side, against all odds and against everyone who would break our bonds," Kari continued from where Hermione had left off, "Together, the Clan is stronger then when we are split apart."
Everyone just knew she was referring to the summer holidays when no one had been able to reach anyone and once again souls had been on the line.
"Solomon Muto, will you become patriarch of the Clan?" Kari asked.
"I will."
"And do you, the Founders of the Clan accept this, as I do?"
"We do." Eight voices out of nine agreed, the other had asked the question.
"Then drink the potion, sign the sheet, and put a drop of blood next to your name."
Ten names and ten drops of blood were put on the paper and for a moment it glowed with many colours.
"Our names and magics are registered, the Domino Clan is founded." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as all ten drops went green due to the potion. Then she grinned, "It worked."
The ritual, it seemed wasn't over, and magic flew from the piece of paper, and a little of each colour flew into each member of the Clan, knocking everyone over on their butts.
"What was that?" Yami asked, eyes bright, sensing everyone for a moment before the magic settled down and it was back to just sensing Harry and Yugi.
"I think that was our magic linking." Hermione said, just as confused, "I'm not sure why…"
"All the Clans before have had only wand magic." Kari pointed out, "Unlike us, who all have wand magic as well as something else, so I think we all now have a little bit of each other's. Not much," She clarified, "But enough to allow us to each understand the other's magics…"
"Oops?" Kari offered.
"It wasn't in the research." Hermione said, confused.
"Like Kari said, it's not something that has happened before."
There was silence for a moment, and they all just looked at each other, smiling slightly.
"So, little brother," Joey grinned at Yami, "What do you think? Becoming part of the family improve my chances of winning Tournaments?"
"Maybe," Yami replied, ignoring the 'little brother' comment, "But only if we're not competing." He indicated himself and Yugi.
"You can't beat me… oh…" Seto smirked, "That reminds me, have any of you seen the notes that went up this morning?"
"We were a little busy searching the castle and worrying about the task." Joey growled.
"Or being drugged." Yugi added.
"To worry about reading notes."
"Hogwarts is hosting an interschool Wizard Duel Monsters tournament between Hogwarts, Beuxbatons and Durmstrang, as an additional part of the Triwizard Tournament, it doesn't affect the scores in anyway, but I've put up the prize."
"What is it?" Yami looked interested.
"An all expenses paid trip to India." Seto said, "With spending money and sightseeing around the most magical areas of the country."
"Sounds interesting." Yugi nodded, thinking about it. "How many people are allowed to enter from each school?"
"We figure sixteen."
"I won't enter then." Yugi said, deciding, "It wouldn't be fair if all of us entered." He indicated the group as a whole, "Others wouldn't get the chance."
"You can't drop out!" Joey and Seto protested at the same time.
"Actually I think it's a good idea." Yami agreed, backing up his hikari, "After that article came out, if word got out that we were competing, you wouldn't get the students from Hogwarts, because everyone here knows that we don't lose."
"Over confident much?" Seto growled.
"Just telling the truth."
"Guys!" Joey whining.
"Can I enter?" Harry asked.
"I don't see why not. Someone has to." Mokuba complained.
"I'll enter." Hermione raised her hand.
"Me too." Ombre and Kari grinned at the same time.
"I'll compete, if you can bear to have me in your tournament." Joey said, referencing the sheer number of times that Kaiba had invited Joey and then complained about him the whole time.
"And Seto makes six," Yugi counted, "Meaning that there are ten spaces open for our school still."
"Are you sure I can't convince you to compete?"
"Uh huh."
Seto didn't believe them, he was certain they'd put their names down in the end, they couldn't resist a tournament.
Then the door slammed open. "What did you do?" A very distressed Robyn wailed.
"Robyn?" Kari asked, incredibly confused, how did Robyn know the password?
Wait… stupid question. Robyn knew everything.
"Is something wrong, Miss Golden?" Yami asked calmly, getting to his feet.
"Of all the insane... Yes, there's something wrong, how did you invoke my magic in a ritual I have nothing to do with?"
"All we did was complete the Clan ritual." Hermione said, "We've been planning it for months."
"But you weren't involved in the ritual; it shouldn't have messed with your magic." Yugi looked over to Kari who was exchanging a look with Hermione, a very confused that asked 'what the hell?'
And in a cold voice, "Exactly which Clan ritual did you use." Robyn asked.
"This one." Kari stood up and collected her notes and plans from the table, showing them to Robyn, "The one that means that we stand as one group, together, bound to help and protect each other, 'we stand together'…"
"We researched it carefully," Hermione said, "And other then that little display at the end where we all received a little bit of everyone else's magic, it went exactly according to plan."
Robyn flipped through the notes, and sighed. "You forgot to take into account other magical bindings."
"Other magical bindings?" Hermione shot to her feet and grabbed her copy of the notes off of the table, shifting through them, "Ummm," She looked confused, "Are you talking about life debts?" She asked, "Because I thought I took into account those… Life debts owed in, right? I worked it out to be everyone in here, owed everyone else in here at least four life debts…"
"Umm, Hermione, I think we had it the wrong way around." Kari realised. "I think it must have been Life Debts owed out, not in…" "And I owe Robyn at least three."
"Have you no knowledge of the basics laws of magic? This ritual was designed to provide guardians; any person who has in the past saved one of the members, and would willingly do so again also gets bound. Magic likes children, and is willing to twist anything to protect them, why do you think accidental magic is so common."
"Oh…" Hermione gulped, "Oops."
"Oops?" Yami demanded, "Oops is never good."
"Oops I think we might have accidently let some of your former foes into the Clan." Hermione said quickly, before hiding behind Ombre.
"Like who?"
"Marik, Pegasus… Bakura possibly."
"Huh, none of us owe…"
"Actually we do, Yami, if he hadn't given us back that Puzzle piece, or helped Tea and Tristan, or ripped control away from Marik…"
"Damn."
"You are performing a bloodline ritual as soon as possible. Research it," Robyn scribbled a note on a blank piece of parchment, "And tell me what ingredients you'll need, I'll order them. And you better hope that this insanity hasn't distributed my magical gifts."
"Why?" Hermione asked quickly, since it looked like Robyn was about to storm off again.
Robyn glared, "Because the more Seers you have in close proximity, the more visions occur, and the harder it is to change the future."
"Oh."
"Yes. Oh."
"We'll do it as soon as possible." Kari nodded. "We'll head to the library right now; we need to know who else got in."
"Can we wait until I stop feeling like I've just gotten off of a roundabout?" Yugi asked.
"You ok?" Yami asked him.
"My magic hasn't settled yet, I was balanced before, now I feel off kilter, I'll be ok soon."
"A good bloodline potion takes months, and it'll probably be best to have one that identifies active abilities... and do you know how long it'll take... training... I need to look up training methods again... and HA! When I go insane you lot will have to look after me!" Robyn declared, before exiting the room.
"Uhhh…"
"What was that about?" Mokuba asked.
"I think we did something we shouldn't have."
"When don't we?" Joey complained.
"Isn't she already crazy?" Yami groaned, still not completely sure what had happened and willing his magic to settle back down so he had a grip on it again.
"No, she could be a lot worse." Hermione advised, "I've read about Seers who have gone crazy from looking too far into the future or from someone looking through them into the future, and if you think Robyn's bad, you should see what's written about some of them."
"So this is sane Robyn?"
"Uh huh."
"Great." Joey sighed with a great deal of sarcasm.
"Boys, could you walk with me to Professor Dumbledore's office?" Solomon asked, "I'd like to have a word before I go home."
"Sure Grandpa." Yugi stood up, finding that his feet were a lot more steady then his grip on his magic, and offered his Grandfather a hand up. "We'll see you guys later?"
"Sure." Joey nodded.
"You too Joey, and you Harry."
The five left and Mokuba frowned, "I suddenly feel left out."
"I wouldn't." Kari advised, "I think Grandpa's about to chew 'em out."
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"Gramps, you alright?" Joey asked, concerned for the older gentleman, but he waved it off.
"I'm used to odd shifts in my magic, too many shifts during too many adventures to count," Solomon said, but that isn't why I've asked you to come with me."
"What's wrong?"
"You do realise what this means right?"
The boys frowned and shook their heads, unsure what Solomon was on about.
"You're bound now, to stand by those of the Clan that are in danger, even if it's danger of their own creation, and they have to stand by you, even if they've led you into a trap."
"Oh."
"Oh doesn't cover it, the 'we will stand together' clause means that you'll have to stand by your enemy's side as well as your brother's, if they are Clan." He warned, looking at Joey, knowing he had considered the two Mutos family before this.
The four boys looked thoughtful.
"Sorry Grandpa." Yugi bowed his head.
"I'm not really angry, Yugi." Solomon sighed, "I just want you to know what side effects this could have. You've opened yourself wide open for an attack if the wrong person works out how to manipulate this."
"We should have made sure we had it right." Yami bowed his head too, "Sorry Grandpa."
"It's not your fault Yami, or yours Yugi. Neither is it yours Joey, nor yours Harry, the Life Debt mistake is easy to make when you've done all the research yourself but…" Solomon sighed, "Just be careful until you find out who is on the list of Clan members, and I want a copy when you've found out."
"Alright." Harry nodded, suddenly aware that this wise old wizard was now lawfully his Grandfather.
"Just promise me the four of you will be careful." Solomon asked.
"We promise." The four chorused.
There was silence for a moment, until they reached Dumbledore's office, and then Harry turned to Solomon. "Umm, why did you include me in the group?" Harry indicated Yugi, Yami and Joey, "Not that I'm not grateful but…"
"You're linked to my boys, aren't you?" Solomon asked.
Harry nodded.
"That makes you one of mine too." Solomon said, ruffling Harry's hair, "And you deserve to have the same warning as they do. What affects one, affects us all, but we're not all linked together like you four…"
"I'm not…"
"I know you're not mind linked to these three," Solomon told Joey, "But if anything happened to one of them, you'd be just as devastated as if you had been... once your temper had run its course. Just be careful and make sure you stand together, don't let anyone get between you, ok?"
The four nodded.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like a few words with the Headmaster before I go home and you've got to head to the library."
"Mr Muto?" Harry asked.
"It's Grandpa, Harry, you don't have to be so formal. Now off you lot go, the sooner you know who's family and who isn't the easier it will be." He shooed them off and turned to the gargoyle that was watching with interest and waiting for the password. "Candy Canes."
Yugi paused at the top of the fourth floor stairs, looking back over his shoulder at Joey who was just behind him, the two running late, having been the last to finish showering after training this morning, "What's up?" Joey nodded towards the corridor and Yugi shot back up the steps and into the corridor. "Joey?"
Before Yugi was sure what was going on, Joey had grabbed the collar of his robes and lifted him off the ground. Fear and confusion swamped him, "Joey?"
"I don't know how much of it is true, and I trust you, but I'll give you the same warning I gave the other guys. Hurt my sister and you'll be sorry."
"Joey, I don't know what you're talking about!" Yugi yelped.
'Yugi, what's wrong?' Yami sounded worried, having sensed Yugi's sudden fear.
Joey let go, letting Yugi drop to the floor, "I'm just warning you." He said with a growl and a pat on the head, before stalking downstairs.
`Yugi!` Now Harry was worried, since Yami had gotten no answer from the hikari.
Yugi didn't respond, still stunned, the fear gone but the confusion increasing by the minute
'Yugi?'
Yugi got to his feet slowly, shaking his head to clear it.
'Damn it Yugi, answer me!' Yami was afraid and frustrated… Yugi could sense he was heading this way, along with Harry.
"I…I'm fine." Yugi finally got himself going again. "Have you seen Joey?"
'No… why?'
"Nothing."
`Yugi, what happened?`
"Nothing." Yugi headed down the stairs.
'Yugi…' Oh Yugi knew that tone, it was a 'tell-me-what-happened-or-else' tone and Yugi just knew that Yami wouldn't follow through on it so he didn't say anything. Instead he leant over the railings and waved down to Yami and Harry who looked back up at him.
"I'm ok, honest." Yugi sent, heading down to meet them. Joey had passed the two before Yugi reached them, since the staircases had changed at least twice since Joey had left. They headed down to breakfast, where Kari was giggling about something.
"You might want to read this." She said, handing Yugi a copy of yesterday's daily Prophet. It had been left in the Common Room overnight and Yugi had seen it in passing, but hadn't paid much attention to it. However it appeared Kari had grabbed it on her way down.
Yugi looked at the headline. Well, this explained Joey's mood, he just wondered how long it had taken Skeeter to get all this information.
Reading the article, it looked like she'd gone out to Japan to talk to Serenity's friends, interviewed people at Hogwarts and spoken to some people in the Duelling Circuit before giving the article to the editor of the paper…
Annoying and completely untrue, but she didn't half go out of her way to get a story.
So he had a new question, how had she been on school grounds for the Yule Ball?
Professor Dumbledore had banned her after her piece on the 'love triangle' between Kari, Harry and Hermione.
"Joey." Yugi looked at his best friend who look partially ashamed of himself, "You do realise everything Skeeter writes is junk right?"
Joey didn't look up causing Yami to snatch the paper away, read the article, put two and two together, roll his eyes and whack Joey round the head with it.
"Besides, I'd tell you if I was going to date your sister." Yugi continued, "Not let you find out in a newspaper."
"Big brother mode." Joey said, shrugging, "I did the same to Duke and Tristan."
"Just make sure you have the facts next time please." Yugi said, easily forgiving Joey.
"Sure."
"Come on, we'll be late." Ombre poked the two boys, to make them hurry up with their breakfast.
"We're coming!" Joey waved her off, shoving hot porridge into his gob.
Ombre rolled her eyes and looked over to the Ravenclaw table, where Kari and Seto were talking quietly… Ombre wondered what they were on about.
Kari wandered back over to the Gryffindor table, looking at her notes, lost in thought.
"Hikari?"
"Tell you later." Kari promised, "We've got a surprise planned."
"Surprise?" Yami asked warily.
"Don't worry, you'll like it." Kari promised.
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"Miss Ironhide?"
Kari paused at the voice. She, Ombre and Hermione were on their way to the library. The Gillyweed for Harry had come in this morning, just in time for the Second Task which was being held tomorrow and she had the spell she was going to use down perfect, all the Clan paperwork had arrived, the potion would be ready tomorrow, so they'd sign that after the task and the only reason she was going to the library was because she wanted to look something up about merpeople.
"Miss Golden?" She asked, waving Ombre and Hermione on.
"You wanted to talk?" Robyn asked, as Ombre and Hermione shot up the stairs and out of sight.
Kari nodded.
Robyn directed the young woman to her office, and sat down, waiting for Kari to take a seat before asking, "Well?"
"I…" Kari took a deep breath, "Robyn, I don't hate you." She burst out, "I could never hate you! I'm sorry for whatever I've done to make you think that I hate you!"
"No contact. Something happened after... after you left. My visions have gotten worse." Robyn sighed, and draped herself messily over a chair. "I thought things were bad before..."
"I tried to reach you, used my wages on credit, flooded your inbox, but you never replied…" Kari said truthfully, "What happened? Why are your visions worse?"
Robyn nodded, "Do you know what effects memory charms have on Seers?"
Kari shook her head, "I know that repeated use can cause problems with how someone's memories work…" Kari trailed off, getting angry for her friend, working out where this was going, "Who do I have to kill?"
"No killing. I'm pressing charges. It was my father. He was... displeased at some of my actions."
"Git." Kari growled, trying to calm down, hands clenched into fists, "What could you have done that was so bad that he messed around with your memories?"
"I don't know." She shrugged with a half smile, "The memory is gone."
Kari growled, "I lost contact with you around the time you sent me the Orb, but I wasn't there… I couldn't help… I'm sorry." Guilt flooded her, "If I'd been there, I might have noticed something, I'm sorry."
"I sent you the Orb? What orb? Can I see?"
Kari took off her Millennium Orb, which had been hidden (badly) by her robes, "It's the Millennium Orb… we think. It's the item Ombre's linked to… oh… you wouldn't know…" Kari handed over the Orb.
Robyn grinned. "The Orb of light, of dawning days, said to hold the wisdom of those who have gone before, but only unlockable by half a twin made whole. It's been in my family for..." The grin faded, and Robyn shivered. "Oh."
"The Orb's the reason… you sent it to me to protect me from the Shadows…" Kari bit her lower lip, "I freed Ombre when I touched it, that was what it meant, right, half a twin? Her mind's linked to mine… making me whole…" Kari shook her head, "I didn't know it had been in your family for years, I didn't even think about it. Robyn, do you think that's why your dad was so mad?"
"Not years, centuries. Magical families go back a long way." She handed back the orb. "It's a powerful magical artefact, and I gave it to a Muggle... he must have been so mad."
"But if it was a Millennium Item, shouldn't it have gone over to Japan anyway? I mean, won't Yugi need it?"
"There are only seven Millennium Items. The Orb is something else altogether."
Kari looked at the Orb in Robyn's hand, she'd only ever known it as the Millennium Orb, but if it wasn't from around there, where had it come from… "Robyn, you remember Ombre, right? You met her at the Quidditch World Cup."
"The young woman living off your magic?"
"Ombre's not… she has her own magic. She's my dark, like Yami is to Yugi." Kari was confused, "As long as she keeps her energy up and eats well, she doesn't have to live off of magic."
"There are many types of magic Kari, and I'm not talking wand magic."
"Do Ombre and the Orb have the same type of magic?" Kari asked, "Because I already know it's not Shadow Magic, though we can draw off of them when we have none of our own left. Is Ombre something else, like the Orb is? Or is she a yami, truly? The dark to my light?"
"Ombre is... complicated. She's a construct of lots of different magics. My best bet would be primary shadow, dawn, blood and twin magics. She's not dark, I have no idea what put that into your head. I don't know what a yami is, and I really don't think I should tell you what Ombre is."
"A yami is a dark…" Kari paused, "This is complicated, we haven't had to explain it to anyone in years, they're spirits who were trapped within a Millennium Item and were freed by their hikaris or their lights, also known as their reincarnations. A yami is the dark half of the soul of the person that was sealed and a hikari is the light half that was allowed to move through the reincarnation cycle." Kari explained, "Each yami can only be supported by their hikari and each hikari needs their yami, it's a partnership that once entered, we cannot break, nor would we want to. Yami is Yugi's yami, Bakura is Ryou's and Ombre is mine, but…" She frowned, "If Ombre isn't dark, then she can't be a yami…" So what does that make me? Kari wondered, If Ombre isn't my dark half, I'm not a hikari, so what am I?
"Ombre can not be dark. She is not the other half of your soul. Your soul has been whole since your brother died. You could not have activated the Orb unless your soul was whole. I will not tell you what Ombre is, it is not for me to say."
Rai… The pain was deep, though it was seven years this March that he had been killed and Kari had to force her mind back on track, "The Japanese have a saying. A pair of twins is the soul of one incredible person, split into two, and they can only ever reach their full potential if one of the twins dies…" Kari said, thinking, "So maybe I've been whole all this time, and that's what gave me my magic… and I never realised it..." Kari nodded, not wanting to force the issue when she was having a civil and sane conversation with her friend, "Besides We'll just have to work what the Orb and Ombre are, we can do it, we normally do." She sighed, "I'm sorry, for running away from my problems, and causing you more."
"Ombre knows already, and I think you should go now, I have work to do."
"Ombre doesn't have any…" Kari shook her head, "Alright, I have to find that thing on merpeople for tomorrow's task anyway." She stood up, "See ya later." She said, giving her friend a grin and picking up her bag.
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When the group gathered for dinner that evening, even with the second task tomorrow, it had to be said that Kari and Harry were quite considerably calmer then they had been for the first task, through the nerves were there if you looked hard enough.
"Come seek us where our voices sound," Kari sang under her breath as she leant back, having eaten as much as she was going to considering she had to be underwater for an hour at the most tomorrow. "We cannot sing above the ground."
"An hour long you'll have to look," Harry continued startling everyone, "And to recover what we took."
Kari smiled at him, having already heard about Harry's plan to take some gillyweed down with him, just in case. In theory it should last an hour, but they knew better then to take that risk.
"I wonder what the merpeople will take." Yugi said, sipping his hot chocolate and looking up from his plate, which was still half full from his second lot.
"I have no idea." Kari said, "It could be anything, it wasn't really specific about it."
"Helpful." Ron said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
"Very." Harry agreed.
"Early night?" Ombre asked.
"I need to talk with you." Kari said, "But it can wait till we're up in the dorm. Other then that I think I'll turn in early."
"I doubt I'll get much sleep." Harry nodded, "But I'm not staying up too late, there's not much point and it'll only effect my performance tomorrow."
"Well…" Hermione looked around, "I did brew these." She held up two vials, "Eight hours of dreamless sleep."
"I'll take it." Harry nodded, accepting a vial, "As long as no one allows me to sleep through the task."
"Harry, we don't' let you sleep through training, what makes you think we'd let you sleep through the task?"
"I am not training tomorrow morning." Kari told them. "The task's at ten."
"We were going to let you two sleep in tomorrow, wake you up when we got back."
"Yeah, an hour's swimming is more then enough exercise."
"In that case, I'll take one." Kari said, "I just can't believe that they've got the nerve to go through our stuff to put down in the lake. I swear if they take my Deck or Duel Disk, I'm going to hurt someone." Kari took the vial from Hermione, with a small smile. "Thanks sis."
"Its official tomorrow, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Uh huh." Joey nodded.
"Can't wait." Harry grinned.
"We just need to ask Grandpa and Sirius, when they get here."
"I think Gramps'll accept."
"What about Sirius?" Harry asked, worried.
"We can add him at a later date if he says no and changes his mind later." Kari advised.
There was silence for a moment, remembering how easy it had been to get Sirius to agree to letting Harry become a member of the Clan… not… and then they all stood up, headed up to the Gryffindor Tower, sent their good nights to their Duel Monster partners and then Harry downed his potion, and was out like a light a minute later.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Ombre asked as Kari started changing into her pjs.
"I spoke to Robyn today." Kari small smile advised the dark that it had gone well, then she frowned, "She said something you might be interested in."
"What is it?"
"The Orb isn't a hidden Millennium Item." Kari answered, "It's apparently the Orb of Light, and it supposedly holds the memories of those who have gone before us." She said, hand on the Orb, eyes closed, then they opened and brown met magenta, "It was in Robyn's family for centuries."
"And she sent it to you?" Hermione asked.
Kari nodded, "It was to protect me from the Shadows, but I was a half made whole, so I activated it."
"Huh?"
"A pair of twins is one incredibly powerful soul split into two, so when…" Kari's throat constricted and she looked down.
"When Rai died," Ombre continued for her hikari, "Kari's soul would have become… oh." Ombre wheeled around to look at her hikari, eyes wide. They'd never considered it before…
"I wasn't a half when I met you."
Hermione frowned, "But doesn't that mean that Ombre isn't a yami, if she's not the other half of your soul?"
"Exactly."
"Then… if I'm not a yami… what am I?"
"Robyn said you already knew."
"Hmm. Seers, strange creatures."
Kari frowned, "If the Orb holds memories, like Robyn said, then you have to have some access to them and so do I."
"Not tonight." Hermione said firmly.
"Not unless you want to try Ombre." Kari said, "If not it can't be tomorrow night either." Kari said, "We've got the Clan to worry about."
"I… will try." Ombre said, "Did she say where to look?"
"No." Kari shook her head, "She said you knew."
"I will think about it." Ombre nodded, "In the meantime, you must sleep."
"Alright." Kari nodded, handing over the Orb of Light, "Night girls." She downed the potion and was asleep in moments.
Ombre nodded towards the stairs and they were joined by the guys, so deep in thought that she missed the whole conversation going on.
"I'm going to go see Boh." Yugi said, "We had a run in Slytherins earlier and I just want to check he was alright for the rest of the day."
"I'll come." Yami said, "I'm not going to sleep for a while."
"I don't think you should, Yami." Hermione said, shaking her head, "It's easier to get around unnoticed when there's only one of you, and Filch'll be out and about soon."
"Filch can…"
"Do you want another detention with Robyn?"
"No."
"Then stay here."
"Fine." Yami growled.
"I'll be fine." Yugi grinned, "I'm just going to talk to Boh, it's not like the Duel Monsters aren't on Guard Duty."
"Alright, just be careful."
"I will." Yugi promised, and headed out of the Common Room.
"You alright Ombre?" Joey poked her.
"I'm not a yami."
Everyone froze at that statement. "Ombre?"
"I… don't want to talk about it." Ombre shook her head, "I have to find out what I am first."
"What do you mean?"
"Just leave me alone." Ombre stormed out of the Common Room.
"I'm going after her." Yami told them, leaving quickly.
"What was that about?"
"Kari spoke to Robyn today…"
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"Ombre?"
"Leave me alone Pharaoh, how would you feel if you'd been told your entire existence is a lie? That you weren't who or what you thought you were?"
"What happened?"
"Kari was whole before she met me." Ombre snapped, tear blinded, "I'm not her dark half, I never was."
"What?"
"I'm not a yami, I don't know what I am, but everything I've known for the last four years has been a lie!"
"Has the link to Kari changed?"
"No but…"
"Has the link to Shadowfae changed?"
"No…"
"Are you still friends with us?"
"Yes."
"And are you still interested in becoming Clan?"
"Of course." Ombre wondered where Yami was going with this.
"Then the only thing I can see has changed is the fact that you're not a dark like me and Bakura, if anything it gives you an advantage. You're going to be saner then us two at the end of this."
"But who am I? Robyn said this damn thing holds answers." She glared at the Orb.
Yami smiled and poked the Orb, which was now being worn by Ombre. "If it does hold memories, it probably has the answers." The smile died, Yami's face paling. "Yugi!" Yami turned and ran for it, Ombre in pursuit.
"Yami? Yami, what?"
"Yugi! I've lost the link with Yugi!"
Ombre swore and continued chasing Yami up the stairs, towards the Monster's Wing.
'Mahado! Find him!' Yami's order was short and to the point.
We're already looking! Mahado replied just as urgently.
Rushing down the corridor, Ombre watched in shock as something flashed past her and Yami cried out before he hit the deck.
She drew her wand, but was mid turning around when she too was hit by a Stunner and went down.
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"Kari, Kari, you've got to wake up!"
"Go'way Ginny."
"Kari's its important, Ombre never came back last night!"
"What?" As sleepy as she was, the after effects of the potion she guessed, that had her up.
"Hermione, Yugi and Yami are missing too, Harry's throwing a fit."
Kari tried to sense where her dark was.
There was nothing.
"Is Harry…?"
"He can't sense them either."
"Why now?" Kari snarled, "What time is it?"
"Half eight."
Kari swore in English, French and Egyptian, throwing on her swimsuit and jogging bottoms, along with her trainers, no time for socks, "Could it be someone trying to distract us from the task?"
"You and Harry have to compete, it's a binding magical contract; your magical cores will rebound and quite possibly kill you if you don't."
"Dumbledore failed to mention that one." Kari shot down the stairs, "But then that wouldn't be the only thing he hasn't mentioned."
The gang were gathered in the Common Room, all of them, and Kari caught Harry's eyes, "We have to find them."
"No." Joey shook his head. "We'll find them; you have to concentrate on the task."
"But….!" Harry and Kari echoed each other.
"No, this could be exactly what whoever has taken them wants, to distract the pair of you from the task. We can't let that happen."
Kari's hands clenched into fists.
"But, I can't…" Harry started.
"…You have to." Seto butted in, "There's nothing more you can do, the Duel Monsters are searching top to bottom, we'll start soon; your friends wouldn't want you to lose your magic because of them."
"I can't lose her again." Kari shook her head.
"You won't, I promise." Seto said, "But you will leave this to us, got it?"
"But Seto…"
"I swear on my deck and wand, Harry, we'll find Yugi and Yami, just focus on the task."
"We'll split up." Joey was saying, "I'm sure they're fine, but Ginny, Mokuba and Luna will go with Kari and Harry to the lake, and make sure they get through the task safely. Muto Grandfather will be waiting there, so some of us had better show."
Seto nodded, "In the meantime, Joey and I will help the Duel Monsters search for them and we won't stop until they're safe, got it?"
Harry nodded.
"Thank you."
"They'll be fine."
Kari froze. "Oh no."
"What?"
"Hermione knew something was going to happen, why else would she specifically give us 'dreamless sleep' potions."
"I'm gonna kill her."
"You may not need to if Yami finds out she allowed someone to take Yugi."
"Harry, do you have the gillyweed?"
Harry nodded.
"Kari, have you prepared what you need to?"
"Yes, but I need…"
"What?"
"Seto, were you there when I taught Hermione what to do, just in case?"
Seto nodded.
"Do you remember it?"
"Yes."
"Thank the Gods. You have to come to the lake."
"Alright, I'll be there and I'll be ready, just in case. Now go and eat."
"I'll go with them." Mokuba said, and his girls agreed, heading down to breakfast so that the food had gone down before they had to enter the water.
"This is insane." Joey complained as they split up to search, "Did anyone think to check the Hospital Wing?"
"Eight times already."
"Where are they?"
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"Muto Grandfather. Black Sirius, Dursley Dudley." Kari bowed, "Welcome."
"Kari, Harry." Muto Grandfather accepted the hug from the young woman, and looked around, "We're short on numbers aren't we? Where are Yugi, Yami, Ombre and Hermione?"
"Umm, that's a very good question." Joey admitted, "They never came back to the dorm last night, we've been looking all morning."
Sirius frowned, "Can you think of any reason they might not have come back?"
"Yugi went to talk to Boh. Ombre needed some space." Joey ticked them off on his fingers, "Yami was with Ombre and Professor McGonagall came and collected Hermione for something late last night." He said as they walked down to the lake, "I'm going to go back up to the castle once everyone else is at the lake, to help the Duel Monsters."
"Harry, do you mind if I go with him?" Sirius asked.
Harry shook his head, "I'm really worried about them."
"I told you, we'll find them." Joey promised as they reached the edge of the lake, where the boats were to take them out to the stands. "Now do you have everything?"
Harry gave an irritated sigh at being asked that for the thirtieth time and pulled out two lots of gillyweed, "Yes."
Kari held up her wand, "Yes."
"And you're both going to come back relatively unscathed, right?"
"Right." The pair agreed.
"Good luck then." Joey ruffled Harry's hair and hugged Kari.
"Be careful kiddo." Sirius told Harry.
"You too." Harry nodded.
Sirius and Joey headed back up and the rest piled into boats. Once in and on their way, Seto turned to Kari, glaring, "You do realise this is probably the stupidest thing you've ever done, right?"
"Freediving?" Kari asked, "I think it rates a three."
"Only a three?"
"I am transfiguring a dolphin to get me down there and back." Kari pointed out, "They can only dive for fifteen minutes and I've gone swimming in the lake so many times I know where the merpeople live."
You'll have a maximum of seven minutes before you'll have to surface again, I timed you, remember? Do you think you can do it?"
Kari nodded. "I think so."
"It's a bit late to be thinking so."
"I should be looking for Ombre."
"You have to finish the task. Get it over with and then go look for her."
"We're here."
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Harry said, turning to Kari, "Good luck."
"You too."
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"What exactly is going on?" Sirius asked Joey as they started searching the Dungeons.
"Basically Yugi and Yami are targets for kidnapping attempts, like Harry, and they both went missing last night, along with our Muggle-Born friend, Hermione, and Kari's 'twin sister' Ombre." Joey sighed, "We've been searching all morning but we couldn't let Harry or Kari miss the task."
"Where haven't you looked?"
"Teacher's lounge, the Slytherin Common Rooms, Teacher's private rooms…" Joey listed the places, "Seto checked the Ravenclaw Common Room, Ryou checked the Hufflepuff one and we searched top to bottom in both the Gryffindor one and the Monster's Wing."
"Can't get into the Slytherin Common Room?"
"We tend to have trouble with people from Slytherin House, well except Yami's girlfriend, Astraea, she's alright."
"Yami's dating a Slytherin?"
"It was originally because of the Yule Ball, we had this stupid game going, you got more points if managed to get a Slytherin to date you if you were in Gryffindor."
Sirius snorted, "He win?"
"No." Joey laughed, for a moment the worry was gone, "I'm in the lead at the moment."
"Why?" Sirius sounded interested.
"Cordi and Alecia." Joey grinned, "My Hufflepuff girls."
"Two?" Sirius sounded impressed.
"I asked both of them by accident." Joey grinned. Then the worry was back as he wondered what the time was, "I wish I knew where Astraea was, she could check the Common Room for us." He sighed, "I bet she's watching the task though."
Sirius grinned, "I might have an idea. Let's start from the Gryffindor Common Room."
"Why?"
"What's my animagus form?"
Joey's eyes widened and then he face palmed, "Why didn't we think of that earlier?"
"Shall we?"
They rushed up the stairs, Sirius bounding up the stairs in dog form, following Joey up to the boy's dorm where he sniffed Yami's bed, barked and shot back down again.
Joey followed him, as he led Joey first down the stairs, and then back up the stairs, and then back down again, onto the grounds, and across them.
Joey couldn't help wondering where they were going, right up until they reached the Whomping Willow, where Sirius changed back into a human. "Through there."
"The Shrieking Shack…" Joey growled, "Should've guessed."
"Well?"
"Let's go."
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Kari broke the surface, panting for breath.
It was fifteen to twenty minutes into the task and she'd been unlucky with her first dive, though she could safely say that it took three minutes to reach the bottom with the dolphin she'd transfigured at the start of the task, she had been off by a few meters and while it wouldn't have mattered had she been doing this a sane way, freediving it, she had no spare moments to waste.
The mistake with the second dive had been her own, when she'd gotten down far enough she'd seen what or rather who had been taken and the shock had caused her to let out her breath. Combine that with the fact she'd had to blast away a couple of Grindylows, and she'd reached the surface, coughing and spluttering.
Yugi, Hermione, Ombre and some unknown she had to guess was related or important to Fleur in some way were down there…
Deliberately hyperventilating for a moment, she took a deep breath and directed the dolphin to dive. Holding on tightly, she allowed it to tow her to the bottom, where Harry was already untying Yugi.
She caught his eye as she freed Ombre, who was pale and unmoving… if Ombre had drowned, there would be hell to pay.
Tapping her watch, she watched as Harry nodded and then she grabbed Ombre tightly and had the dolphin tow her to the surface. There just wasn't enough time, the way she was doing it, to stick around, and though she surfaced with Ombre, she had every intention of going back.
Ombre awoke as the fresh air hit them and Kari gasped for air. "Hikari?"
"Ombre?… Oh thank Ra… what happened?" Kari gasped, light headed and dizzy, having only just broken the surface in time.
"Dunno, Yami and I were attacked when we went looking for… Yugi! Where is he?"
"Still down there… I'm going back in a minute." Kari growled, "Thanks Seto." She nodded as he helped Ombre out of the water and then offered her his hand, but she shook her head. "Yugi and Hermione are still down there… along with a girl…"
"It's Fleur's sister. Fleur got attacked by the Grindylows, she can't complete the task."
"And no one's gone down for her?"
"We're not allowed to interfere with the task."
"I'm gone." Kari said, taking a deep breath and diving, however she didn't get very far before she was stopped at trident point, by one of the merpeople.
"One only."
Kari shook her head and drew her wand, the mermaid… she guessed it was a mermaid, they didn't look like conventional mermaids, didn't move.
She pointed her wand at it and in exchange had the tip of the trident pressed into her throat.
"Please! My friends are still down there!" Kari pleaded, then realised what she'd done and rose to the surface quickly, coughing and spluttering, and before she could do anything, she'd been hauled out of the water by Mr Muto and Seto and they were helping her expel the water from her lungs.
"Mermaids." She coughed, on her hands and knees and coughing out water as Ombre rubbed her back, "Can't get back down there."
Half a moment later Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were at her side too, "Miss Ironhide? Both of you?"
"Completed the task, Professor." Kari gasped, before she had another coughing fit.
"Here." Madam Pomfrey handed the two blankets and pepper up potion. "Let me check you over, both of you."
Kari just nodded, now panting but no longer forcibly expelling water, watching and waiting… the spell on the dolphin had faded, it had to be around the hour mark… the rock she'd used sinking to the bottom of the lake…
"Thank you Professor."
"I should have known that this was what you wanted the spell for." Professor McGonagall nodded, a tactic smile showing that she accepted the thanks.
"Yugi… Harry… Hermione…"
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"Let me." Sirius said, and was about to change back into his dog form when Joey summoned Baby Dragon, who darted forward, under the waving branches of the Whomping Willow and pressed the knot which froze it.
"Shall we?" Joey asked.
Sirius nodded, letting Joey take the lead, following Joey up the darkened corridor, lit only by the lumos from their wands.
"Of course if they're not here, and we don't find em, the gang's going to kill me."
Joey! Joey straightened up, bashing his head.
"OW! WHAT?" Joey snapped, having bashed his head. "Did you find them Tobias?"
Kisara says that Kaiba says that Ombre, Hermione and Yugi were taken as part of the second task and Kari's already rescued Ombre, but she can't get back past the merpeople.
"Well at least we know where they are…"
Harry's still down there. Tobias advised.
"Joey?" Sirius asked, "I didn't say anything…"
"My partner Duel Monster, Tobias, who's a Red Eyes Black Dragon, just informed me telepathically that Yugi, Hermione and Ombre were taken as part of the task. Kari's already saved one, she had to surface, but Harry's still down there, so…" Joey shook his head, semi-amused, "Whoever thought that this was a good idea is going to get an earful." He snorted.
"So it's just Yami that's missing?"
"I bet it's something to do with the task, they couldn't have captured and drugged Yugi without Yami causing a riot, so they would have had to have taken him down too. I just want to know where they're keeping him and then I'll have a few words with them." Joey's tone turned dark for a moment, and Sirius shivered slightly, his Godson was going to become Clan with these people and he wasn't sure how to take Joey from one moment to the next, and he was one of the saner ones.
They entered the Shrieking Shack, which was dustier and more cobweb infested then the last time they had been in here, but no less wreaked.
"If Yami was awake, there'd be no way they could hold him here." Joey said, looking around and not even having to think about it, "But if they've drugged him, it wouldn't be hard to keep him prisoner."
Sirius wondered what Joey meant by that, he knew Yami and Yugi were the keepers of some pretty powerful magic, but was Yami really powerful enough to escape from someone like Dumbledore?"
Reverting to his dog form, Sirius continued sniffing for Yami's scent, sneezing as he breathed in some of the dust, leading Joey upstairs and down the hall to the last room, where there was a clean room, with fresh linen and robes, and on the bed…
"There you are." Joey sighed in relief at the sight of Yami and cast the diagnostic spell that Madam Pomfrey had taught them after Harry's Shadow Game with Draco, "Tobias, I found him. He's been dosed with a sleeping potion."
I'll tell the others.
"Is he ok?" Sirius asked.
"I think so; he just appears to be asleep." Joey said finally, "I can't wait to see the fireworks that erupt over this one, they're going to be huge."
"You sound rather cheerful about that."
"Yami doesn't like being drugged, he certainly won't like the fact Yugi was drugged and he will want to play a Shadow Game with whoever drugged both him and Yugi and put Yuge in danger." Joey growled, "And to be perfectly honest, if I had his powers, I would too."
"What's a Shadow Game?"
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"You knew." Seto accused Hermione, once she'd found the group, having been rescued by Krum around ten minutes ago.
"I knew they'd take someone important to Harry and Kari, but I knew it couldn't be Yami, because he can't swim, so I figured that it would be Yugi and Ombre. I had no idea Yami would go missing on top of that." Hermione said, "I figured that it was better that Harry and Kari got a full night's sleep without worrying."
"Harry, Yugi and Gabrielle are still down there." Kari said, "And it's been an hour and twenty minutes."
"He'll be on his second lot of Gillyweed by now."
"We should go down and…"
"There!" Ginny was pointing excitedly, there where three people had surfaced…
"Harry! Yugi!" As exhausted as she was, Kari was on her feet, waving enthusiastically. "Over here!" Madam Pomfrey was back, having been checking on Krum.
Harry was low in the water, still having gills, but he was supporting Fleur's sister on one side, while Yugi supported her on the other, and after getting help from Seto and Mokuba to get out of the water, Harry swam around in the water a little longer, waiting for the second batch of Gillyweed to wear off.
Meanwhile the judges were deliberating on the score. Dumbledore had called them over when Yugi and Gabrielle had been pulled onto the platform and Madam Pomfrey had checked them over.
"What about Yami?" Harry asked.
"What's wrong with…?" Yugi asked, concerned.
"He was drugged, he's ok, but he hasn't woken up yet." Seto said, "Joey and Sirius found him."
"Thank the Gods." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, making Kari grin, still amused at hearing Yami's phrases coming from Harry's mouth.
"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice reverberated off the stands and everyone fell silent to listen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the Champions as follows."
"Here we go…"
"Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
There was applause from the crowds.
"Miss Kari Ironhide, who used transfiguration to create an aquatic creature to assist her in reaching the bottom of the lake, was the first to arrive safely with her hostage and well within the time limit. Therefore, we award her, the full fifty points."
"Oh yeah!" Mokuba crowed, delighted, as there was another round of applause and Kari gave everyone a high five.
"Vicktor Krum used an incomplete form of self-transfiguration which was none the less effective, and was the second to return with his captive, though he was ten minutes outside the time limit."
Harry frowned, he had thought that he had returned outside the time limit, but not by as much as that, and if Krum was that much over…
"And as such, we award Mr Krum, forty points."
"And finally, though Mr Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect, he was the last to return with his hostage and he was well outside of the time limit. However, Merchieftainess Murcus has informed me that Mr Potter was first to reach the hostages and his delay was because of his determination to return all the hostages to safety, not only his own."
"You were successful too." Kari said, giving Harry a grin.
"Most of us feel that this shows outstanding moral fibre, and as such, we award Mr Potter forty-eight points!"
"Yes!" Kari yelled, leaning over the water to give Harry a high five, as cheers erupted.
"The third and final task will be held on the twenty-fourth of June, the Champions will be informed exactly a month before. Thank you for your support of the Champions."
They were back in the boats before they knew it, and an exhausted Harry and Kari fell asleep before they reached the shore and had to be woken up.
"So tired." Kari complained, she was awake more by adrenaline then anything, and she felt ill.
"Nearly back to the school."
Harry felt Yami's end of the link open and he looked over at Yugi, who was giving a relived smile. `You ok Yami?`
'Who is it I have to have words with?' Yami asked; his tone so dark that Harry gave Yugi a startled look. Yugi had bitten his bottom lip.
"Yami, you can't…!" Yugi sounded frantic.
'They attacked us, drugged us, they put you in danger!'
"But I'm OK, Harry's OK, Ombre's OK, no one was hurt…"
`I'm ok, honest, Yami!`
'They can't get away with it.'
"If they hadn't attacked us, they wouldn't have had anyone for Kari and Harry to rescue, and they would have been expelled from Hogwarts."
'They should never have put you in danger.' Yami's anger wasn't breaking.
"Yami…"
`I'm sorry Yami, that you and Yugi were attacked because of me, but I will repay you, I promise…`
'Harry…' Yami's mental state didn't change, but his tone lightened for a moment.
`I don't know how yet, but I promise I'll think of something I can do to help you both.`
"See? You need to calm down, Yami, we're both fine, nothing went wrong and I'm sure there were fail safes in place just in case." Actually he wasn't, but he wasn't going to tell Yami that while he was in this mood, "Besides, do you really want to bring down the wrath of the English Ministry, to go with the American one?"
'Yugi…'
"What's wrong?" Seto asked, having caught Yugi and Harry's expressions.
"Yami."
"What's wrong with him?"
"We should be glad that he's in the Shrieking Shack." Yugi advised, "And nowhere near Dumbledore."
Seto sighed, "He really needs a lid on that temper of his."
"I know this, you know this…" Yugi turned to his Grandpa, while Harry told Yami exactly what had happened in the lake, and dealt with Yami's temper, "Grandpa, do you remember what I wrote in that last letter?"
"About the Clan signing that was going to happen this afternoon?"
Yugi nodded.
"We," And he indicated everyone of their group present, "Were wondering if you wanted to be a Founder of the Domino Clan."
"You want me to be a Founder?" Solomon sounded surprised.
"Uh huh." Yugi nodded, "It would mean that you'd be the oldest, so if anyone who was made an orphan, you would automatically become their guardian and you'd have English, Japanese, American and Egyptian citizenship… I know it's a lot of responsibility but…"
"I'll do it." Grandpa said, nodding, "The oldest otherwise, would be Kaiba right?"
"That's right; we're going to ask Sirius too…"
"I'll sign; Kaiba's always busy with his company and Sirius… well…"
"Mr Muto?" Harry asked.
"It's nothing Harry." Grandpa assured him, "Sirius is Sirius."
"You're sure about this?"
"I would be happy to be a Founder of the Domino Clan."
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"Yami, Yami calm down." Joey called, as Yami started glowing purple. "Pharaoh!" Joey snapped. Tobias, get Mahado to talk to him. I knew he was going to be bad, but this is ridiculous!
"Joey?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius, meet Yami after someone's put Yugi in danger." Joey sighed, "And Yami, if you don't calm down, I'm going to set Yugi on you when we get out of here, or worse I'll set Kari's friend on you."
Yami visibly forced the Shadows away, but anger still was visible in his stance and features, "Sorry."
"Just remember that you have to keep your temper in check, I don't particularly fancy getting blasted halfway across the room by a stray bolt of Shadow Magic, thank you very much." He twated Yami round the back of the head, "Think please."
Yami glared, and then the glare softened to still irritated amusement, "You, asking me to think before I act?"
"Yeap… hey I think!" Joey protested.
Poor Sirius was incredibly confused, one minute Joey had been acting as if Yami was about to blow them all to smithereens and now they were joking around… it was too late to rescinded his permission for Harry, the forms had gone in, but was it safe?
He should have spent more time around them before agreeing to it…
"So?" Joey asked, "Party?"
"We'd better go before Hermione shuts it down." Yami agreed.
"She's not that bad."
"With the Clan ritual tonight? She'll be a nightmare."
"Ok, you might have a point."
"I just hope that being a Clan Founder means that I'm classed as human again."
"You're not at the moment?"
"Nope, he's a pet." Joey laughed. "Watch out, he bites!"
"I do not!"
"One potentially dangerous magical creature over here!" Joey laughed, pointing at Yami. "The best way to keep yourself safe is to make sure that you have a Yugi close at hand."
"I'm not that bad!"
"Wanna bet?"
"I'm not that bad!"
Joey laughed, "Come on, I'm hungry, I haven't eaten all morning."
"Why not?"
"Just come on!"
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"We come together," Hermione said, "To officially found the Domino Clan."
They'd changed the name on the form at the last minute, as they had been informed that they couldn't use that family name without permission of several members of that family and since there was only one left…
"After tonight, we'll be one family. Under Clan law, we shall stand together."
They were in the Monster's Wing, the Common Room of which had been cleared so they could all get in, and the Duel Monsters had gone home, so they didn't interfere.
Sirius had gone home already, taking Dudley with him, but Solomon was stood next to his grandsons, and he was amused to think that soon all these young men and women would be his grandchildren.
"We stand side by side, against all odds and against everyone who would break our bonds," Kari continued from where Hermione had left off, "Together, the Clan is stronger then when we are split apart."
Everyone just knew she was referring to the summer holidays when no one had been able to reach anyone and once again souls had been on the line.
"Solomon Muto, will you become patriarch of the Clan?" Kari asked.
"I will."
"And do you, the Founders of the Clan accept this, as I do?"
"We do." Eight voices out of nine agreed, the other had asked the question.
"Then drink the potion, sign the sheet, and put a drop of blood next to your name."
Ten names and ten drops of blood were put on the paper and for a moment it glowed with many colours.
"Our names and magics are registered, the Domino Clan is founded." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as all ten drops went green due to the potion. Then she grinned, "It worked."
The ritual, it seemed wasn't over, and magic flew from the piece of paper, and a little of each colour flew into each member of the Clan, knocking everyone over on their butts.
"What was that?" Yami asked, eyes bright, sensing everyone for a moment before the magic settled down and it was back to just sensing Harry and Yugi.
"I think that was our magic linking." Hermione said, just as confused, "I'm not sure why…"
"All the Clans before have had only wand magic." Kari pointed out, "Unlike us, who all have wand magic as well as something else, so I think we all now have a little bit of each other's. Not much," She clarified, "But enough to allow us to each understand the other's magics…"
"Oops?" Kari offered.
"It wasn't in the research." Hermione said, confused.
"Like Kari said, it's not something that has happened before."
There was silence for a moment, and they all just looked at each other, smiling slightly.
"So, little brother," Joey grinned at Yami, "What do you think? Becoming part of the family improve my chances of winning Tournaments?"
"Maybe," Yami replied, ignoring the 'little brother' comment, "But only if we're not competing." He indicated himself and Yugi.
"You can't beat me… oh…" Seto smirked, "That reminds me, have any of you seen the notes that went up this morning?"
"We were a little busy searching the castle and worrying about the task." Joey growled.
"Or being drugged." Yugi added.
"To worry about reading notes."
"Hogwarts is hosting an interschool Wizard Duel Monsters tournament between Hogwarts, Beuxbatons and Durmstrang, as an additional part of the Triwizard Tournament, it doesn't affect the scores in anyway, but I've put up the prize."
"What is it?" Yami looked interested.
"An all expenses paid trip to India." Seto said, "With spending money and sightseeing around the most magical areas of the country."
"Sounds interesting." Yugi nodded, thinking about it. "How many people are allowed to enter from each school?"
"We figure sixteen."
"I won't enter then." Yugi said, deciding, "It wouldn't be fair if all of us entered." He indicated the group as a whole, "Others wouldn't get the chance."
"You can't drop out!" Joey and Seto protested at the same time.
"Actually I think it's a good idea." Yami agreed, backing up his hikari, "After that article came out, if word got out that we were competing, you wouldn't get the students from Hogwarts, because everyone here knows that we don't lose."
"Over confident much?" Seto growled.
"Just telling the truth."
"Guys!" Joey whining.
"Can I enter?" Harry asked.
"I don't see why not. Someone has to." Mokuba complained.
"I'll enter." Hermione raised her hand.
"Me too." Ombre and Kari grinned at the same time.
"I'll compete, if you can bear to have me in your tournament." Joey said, referencing the sheer number of times that Kaiba had invited Joey and then complained about him the whole time.
"And Seto makes six," Yugi counted, "Meaning that there are ten spaces open for our school still."
"Are you sure I can't convince you to compete?"
"Uh huh."
Seto didn't believe them, he was certain they'd put their names down in the end, they couldn't resist a tournament.
Then the door slammed open. "What did you do?" A very distressed Robyn wailed.
"Robyn?" Kari asked, incredibly confused, how did Robyn know the password?
Wait… stupid question. Robyn knew everything.
"Is something wrong, Miss Golden?" Yami asked calmly, getting to his feet.
"Of all the insane... Yes, there's something wrong, how did you invoke my magic in a ritual I have nothing to do with?"
"All we did was complete the Clan ritual." Hermione said, "We've been planning it for months."
"But you weren't involved in the ritual; it shouldn't have messed with your magic." Yugi looked over to Kari who was exchanging a look with Hermione, a very confused that asked 'what the hell?'
And in a cold voice, "Exactly which Clan ritual did you use." Robyn asked.
"This one." Kari stood up and collected her notes and plans from the table, showing them to Robyn, "The one that means that we stand as one group, together, bound to help and protect each other, 'we stand together'…"
"We researched it carefully," Hermione said, "And other then that little display at the end where we all received a little bit of everyone else's magic, it went exactly according to plan."
Robyn flipped through the notes, and sighed. "You forgot to take into account other magical bindings."
"Other magical bindings?" Hermione shot to her feet and grabbed her copy of the notes off of the table, shifting through them, "Ummm," She looked confused, "Are you talking about life debts?" She asked, "Because I thought I took into account those… Life debts owed in, right? I worked it out to be everyone in here, owed everyone else in here at least four life debts…"
"Umm, Hermione, I think we had it the wrong way around." Kari realised. "I think it must have been Life Debts owed out, not in…" "And I owe Robyn at least three."
"Have you no knowledge of the basics laws of magic? This ritual was designed to provide guardians; any person who has in the past saved one of the members, and would willingly do so again also gets bound. Magic likes children, and is willing to twist anything to protect them, why do you think accidental magic is so common."
"Oh…" Hermione gulped, "Oops."
"Oops?" Yami demanded, "Oops is never good."
"Oops I think we might have accidently let some of your former foes into the Clan." Hermione said quickly, before hiding behind Ombre.
"Like who?"
"Marik, Pegasus… Bakura possibly."
"Huh, none of us owe…"
"Actually we do, Yami, if he hadn't given us back that Puzzle piece, or helped Tea and Tristan, or ripped control away from Marik…"
"Damn."
"You are performing a bloodline ritual as soon as possible. Research it," Robyn scribbled a note on a blank piece of parchment, "And tell me what ingredients you'll need, I'll order them. And you better hope that this insanity hasn't distributed my magical gifts."
"Why?" Hermione asked quickly, since it looked like Robyn was about to storm off again.
Robyn glared, "Because the more Seers you have in close proximity, the more visions occur, and the harder it is to change the future."
"Oh."
"Yes. Oh."
"We'll do it as soon as possible." Kari nodded. "We'll head to the library right now; we need to know who else got in."
"Can we wait until I stop feeling like I've just gotten off of a roundabout?" Yugi asked.
"You ok?" Yami asked him.
"My magic hasn't settled yet, I was balanced before, now I feel off kilter, I'll be ok soon."
"A good bloodline potion takes months, and it'll probably be best to have one that identifies active abilities... and do you know how long it'll take... training... I need to look up training methods again... and HA! When I go insane you lot will have to look after me!" Robyn declared, before exiting the room.
"Uhhh…"
"What was that about?" Mokuba asked.
"I think we did something we shouldn't have."
"When don't we?" Joey complained.
"Isn't she already crazy?" Yami groaned, still not completely sure what had happened and willing his magic to settle back down so he had a grip on it again.
"No, she could be a lot worse." Hermione advised, "I've read about Seers who have gone crazy from looking too far into the future or from someone looking through them into the future, and if you think Robyn's bad, you should see what's written about some of them."
"So this is sane Robyn?"
"Uh huh."
"Great." Joey sighed with a great deal of sarcasm.
"Boys, could you walk with me to Professor Dumbledore's office?" Solomon asked, "I'd like to have a word before I go home."
"Sure Grandpa." Yugi stood up, finding that his feet were a lot more steady then his grip on his magic, and offered his Grandfather a hand up. "We'll see you guys later?"
"Sure." Joey nodded.
"You too Joey, and you Harry."
The five left and Mokuba frowned, "I suddenly feel left out."
"I wouldn't." Kari advised, "I think Grandpa's about to chew 'em out."
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"Gramps, you alright?" Joey asked, concerned for the older gentleman, but he waved it off.
"I'm used to odd shifts in my magic, too many shifts during too many adventures to count," Solomon said, but that isn't why I've asked you to come with me."
"What's wrong?"
"You do realise what this means right?"
The boys frowned and shook their heads, unsure what Solomon was on about.
"You're bound now, to stand by those of the Clan that are in danger, even if it's danger of their own creation, and they have to stand by you, even if they've led you into a trap."
"Oh."
"Oh doesn't cover it, the 'we will stand together' clause means that you'll have to stand by your enemy's side as well as your brother's, if they are Clan." He warned, looking at Joey, knowing he had considered the two Mutos family before this.
The four boys looked thoughtful.
"Sorry Grandpa." Yugi bowed his head.
"I'm not really angry, Yugi." Solomon sighed, "I just want you to know what side effects this could have. You've opened yourself wide open for an attack if the wrong person works out how to manipulate this."
"We should have made sure we had it right." Yami bowed his head too, "Sorry Grandpa."
"It's not your fault Yami, or yours Yugi. Neither is it yours Joey, nor yours Harry, the Life Debt mistake is easy to make when you've done all the research yourself but…" Solomon sighed, "Just be careful until you find out who is on the list of Clan members, and I want a copy when you've found out."
"Alright." Harry nodded, suddenly aware that this wise old wizard was now lawfully his Grandfather.
"Just promise me the four of you will be careful." Solomon asked.
"We promise." The four chorused.
There was silence for a moment, until they reached Dumbledore's office, and then Harry turned to Solomon. "Umm, why did you include me in the group?" Harry indicated Yugi, Yami and Joey, "Not that I'm not grateful but…"
"You're linked to my boys, aren't you?" Solomon asked.
Harry nodded.
"That makes you one of mine too." Solomon said, ruffling Harry's hair, "And you deserve to have the same warning as they do. What affects one, affects us all, but we're not all linked together like you four…"
"I'm not…"
"I know you're not mind linked to these three," Solomon told Joey, "But if anything happened to one of them, you'd be just as devastated as if you had been... once your temper had run its course. Just be careful and make sure you stand together, don't let anyone get between you, ok?"
The four nodded.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like a few words with the Headmaster before I go home and you've got to head to the library."
"Mr Muto?" Harry asked.
"It's Grandpa, Harry, you don't have to be so formal. Now off you lot go, the sooner you know who's family and who isn't the easier it will be." He shooed them off and turned to the gargoyle that was watching with interest and waiting for the password. "Candy Canes."