Chapter 6: - Mind Games
Yugi was the last one down to the lake side the next morning, where the others were already warming up.
"Hey Yuge!" Joey waved him over, "Anything?"
"Not yet." Yugi shook his head, dropping his bag and stretching out, "But it'll take a while for Harry to recover, even though he won. The first Shadow Game is always the hardest."
Seto snorted and Joey nodded briefly, both having experienced one before.
Their run completed, they were all warmed up and ready as they paired up for combat training, Hermione and Ombre paired up, the Princess showing the bookworm some of the more basic moves, since she hadn't really sat in on Yugi and Harry's lessons from Joey, and Joey would have paired up with Yugi had Ron not grabbed the smaller teen first.
Joey frowned but, at a reassuring nod from Yugi, shrugged and paired up with Kaiba, who was a much better match for him anyway.
"Ready Ron?" Yugi asked, settling into a stance that Joey had taught him. He'd never felt easy in one of the overly stylised martial arts stances, but had shifted easily into the less formal 'ready' stances of Joey's street fighting style.
Ron just nodded, scowling as he shifted into his own stance.
"Ron?" Yugi asked, frowning and wondering if it wouldn't have been better to pair up with Joey after all.
Ron attacked first, punching high and was blocked easily by the Heir, who countered with a couple of punches of his own, one of which was blocked, the other struck home, but since they were only training, it didn't hurt too much.
Ron, however, wasn't playing, and the kick to Yugi's side had the teen doubled over and he had to drop to avoid the next punch, attempting to sweep out Ron's legs, only missing knocking him over by dint of Ron jumping over him.
"What are you playing at?" Yugi demanded as he got back to feet and blocked the next few attacks, countering with his own when he could get an attack in edgeways.
"You were wrong." Ron growled, catching Yugi's side kick and twisting Yugi's leg, making the Heir yelp and end up face first on the ground.
Ron backed off to let Yugi get up, and for a moment was scared of the glare the young man was giving him, before countering with a glare of his own. "Wrong about what?" Yugi growled.
The two circled, not taking their eyes off of each other, "You shouldn't have done it." Ron growled, attacking again.
Yugi was ready for him, blocking and dodging easily. "You're mad I took the Penalty Game off."
"Harry's hurt because you did." Ron snapped back, attempting to hit Yugi and getting even madder because everything was missing.
He didn't understand that being mad meant that he wasn't watching his body language and Yugi could read his next moves like an open book.
"I know that." Yugi growled back, refusing to throw a punch when his opponent wasn't thinking clearly, "You think I don't feel guilty about it?"
Ron muttered something unintelligible under his breath and attacked again, faster then Yugi had given him credit for and landing a lucky hit, sending the Heir sprawling with a punch to the face that had Yugi holding his cheek and seeing whether any of his teeth had come loose.
"That's enough." Joey planted himself firmly between his friends, "You ok Yuge?" He looked back over his shoulder for a moment, as Seto offered Yugi a hand up.
"Fine." Yugi growled, still holding his cheek, there was one loose tooth, and he was certain it would bruise painfully.
"Madam Pomfrey." Seto said firmly, glancing at Joey who nodded, silent communication passing between the two that was something like, 'you wanna deal with him, or can I have the pleasure?'
"I'll take him up." Joey said, "We'll see you at breakfast."
Seto waited until Joey had pushed Yugi up towards the school, knowing that if Ron had broken anything, Madam Pomfrey could deal with it, before turning to the still irritated young man. "You're an idiot." Seto growled at him, waving at Ombre to continue the lesson with Hermione.
Ron didn't look like he comprehended, making Seto even angrier, "Let me guess, that was about the events of yesterday?"
"It was Yugi's fault."
"Yugi had to do what Yugi had to do. Shadow Magic isn't all black and white, good and evil, you have to choose your battles half the time. Yugi obviously had a good reason for lifting the Penalty Game. Think about it would you?"
Ron couldn't think of a good reason and told Seto so.
"Yugi lifted the Game now, and Draco attacked the group. Now think who Draco would have had to attack to get to Harry before the Penalty was lifted you moron."
Ron paused.
"Now you see why the game was lifted now, instead of waiting for a redemption that wasn't going to come?" Seto hated explaining to idiots and Ron was certainly acting like one. "Now, if you want to have a proper fight, I'll be quite happy to fight you, but after that little display, I won't be taking it easy on you."
Ron backed up a step, as mad as he was, fighting properly with Kaiba was not high on his to do list after yesterday's training session, when Joey and Seto had spent the better part of the session beating ten tons of rubbish out of each other.
"Well?" Kaiba asked, shifting into an offensive stance.
Ron shifted into one of his own. "Fine."
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Breakfast at the Gryffindor Table was quiet for their group, although some of that was because Ron, who'd been the most vocal since the Quidditch World Cup, was in the Hospital Wing, and no one else felt much like talking, though to be fair to Yugi it was mostly because while Madam Pomfrey had healed his mouth, it still hurt.
Joey looked over the heads at the various tables and caught Seto's eyes, not hard considering both were among the tallest in their years and that Seto had been trying to catch his eye for the last ten minutes.
Seto looked towards Yugi, also not hard, you just looked for the three coloured star, and then gave Joey a questioning look.
Joey just rolled his eyes, making Seto snort.
Then it was time for class again and all the fun of potions.
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Ron didn't understand it.
He was sat down in the Great Hall, finally having been released for lunch, and still hadn't quite grasped why Seto had been so mad at him this morning.
Yugi had had a good reason, he got that now, but it had still been a stupid thing to do, if he was going to do it, shouldn't he have warned his friends about possible Shadow Games?
He looked up from his meal as the gang walked in, expecting the glares that graced Ombre and Joey's faces.
What he didn't expect was the resigned and almost defeated look on Yugi's as the Heir, whose cheek was still bruised, uncorked a vial which looked like it contained the same sort of potion that Madam Pomfrey had given him for his bruises, downed it in one and started eating.
"Yugi…" Ron called, knowing how much trouble he would be in when Yami woke up if he found out Ron had actually attacked his hikari during practise, "Yugi, I wanted to say I'm sorry for this morning."
Joey went to say something, but a glance from Yugi made him sit down and start eating, "It's fine." Yugi said, sighing, "I expected you guys to be mad at me."
"I shouldn't have lashed out."
"I went into combat training with people I was sure would be pissed off with me." Yugi shrugged, "It's fine, honest."
Ron frowned at the reassurance, since Yugi had said that it was 'fine'. Did he actually mean that it was ok, or was he hinting that it wasn't ok and that he was still mad at him?
"If you're worried I'm going to tell Yami when he wakes up, you needn't be." Yugi smiled slightly, wincing and putting a hand to his cheek, "I'll leave it out if you want."
"Please." Ron nodded.
Yugi went back to work on his plate of food and Ron relaxed, piling food on that actually went well together and scarfing it all down.
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Yugi was asleep already, homework done, and Ron was in the Hospital Wing, having drawn the strongest monster, so Joey wasn't too worried about leaving the dorm and heading downstairs, where the Weasley twins were scheming something or another, probably to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Hermione was up with a huge book that looked older then the Puzzle.
Of course he knew the book couldn't actually be older then the puzzle, but gold kept a lot better over time then paper did and this book looked like it had seen a lot of wear and tear.
"Anything interesting?"
"Did you know it's possible to summon the Shadows with wand magic, but it's not possible to control it?" Hermione asked without looking up.
"You'd need a Millennium Item to control it, and even then I think it's a lot harder then Yami or Bakura makes it look, I mean look how much training Yugi's been getting." Joey said, sitting down next to her, "Is that what you've been researching?"
"No." Hermione shook her head, "We're not ready to tell you about those yet, this is my own research."
"Why?" Joey was concerned for his friend.
"Any books on that have references to the Shadows are another link back to Yami and Ombre's time, and another reference we didn't have before on how the Shadows work exactly." Hermione replied, "Book?"
Joey accepted one and frowned at it, it looked almost as old as the one Hermione was reading, "Ancient Rites And Rituals?"
"Everything I've found on it so far has led back to Blood Rituals." Hermione scowled at her book, "I don't think Yami or Ombre would have had anything to do with them but…"
"There had to be a Pharaoh before Yami." Joey said reasonably. "Where did you get these? They look ancient."
"I got Professor Moody to check them over, someone slipped them into my school bag at the Quidditch World Cup." Hermione saw the look she was getting from Joey, "Professor Moody says they're not hexed or anything and you've heard about how paranoid he is. After the diary I wasn't stupid enough to open them before someone had checked them over."
"Fair enough." Joey settled in, opening the book to the first page.
"Joey?" Hermione's pause made the young man look up.
"Sup?"
"I was wondering about something."
"What's that?"
"Well… Ombre claims you have a link to the past."
"No, I don't have a yami."
"That wasn't what I was going to ask."
"Then spill."
"Do you think you'd have some of the connections to the Shadow Magic that Yugi, Kari and Seto have?"
"I don't have Yugi or Kari's level of Shadow Control, and Kaiba's only ever gotten a reaction from a Millennium Item once, I guess it could explain how I held on so long when I was fighting Yami Marik, but I've never been able to use the Shadows."
"Have you ever tried?"
"I don't know if I'd want to." Joey admitted, "I don't think I'd have the sort of control that I'd need. I'm too prone to flying off the handle."
Hermione snorted, an amused smile gracing her face, "No comment."
"You're not supposed to agree with me." Joey complained.
Hermione just laughed and started reading again.
"Zero respect." Joey grumbled as he read the first few lines, making Hermione grin behind her book.
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Wednesday morning Ron didn't come to training, didn't eat with them at breakfast and didn't sit with them during classes.
They were wondering if they were going to see him when Draco Malfoy started making comments from further down the line to the Great Hall, about people with hedgehog hair, people who crave fame and about gaudy jewellery.
"What does he think the Ring is?" Yugi muttered low enough for only his friends to hear. "It's bigger then the Puzzle."
"Ignore him Yuge and he'll go away." Joey growled, wanting to go have a 'talk' with Draco but restraining himself because he had no great urge to be knocked out cold in a Shadow Game, just before dinner.
Draco's comments continued the further down the line they got, irritating the gang no end, until finally Joey snapped and wheeled around, glaring at Draco, "You've been wearing bigger jewellery then Yuge has, are you compensating for something?" Joey asked.
"Shut up Wheeler!" Draco growled, "Or I'll put you where I put Potter."
"We're not afraid of you Mouthboy." Joey snorted, "You talk big, but you had to have Bakura bail you out, and Harry still won." Joey turned around to say something to Yugi but before he could open his mouth there was a bang, something hot had passed Joey's face, and the entire gang had gone for their wands.
"No you don't!" Someone roared as a second bang went off.
The gang watched in shock as Moody appeared on the scene, pointing his wand at a blonde ferret.
"He get you?" Moody asked Joey.
"Missed." Joey said with a low growl.
"Good." Moody looked approving, "Your friends have good reflexes too."
Joey hadn't noticed before that moment that Ron had somehow got into the group and had his wand drawn too.
Moody turned to the ferret, levitating it and letting it fall. "Never attack when someone's back is turned."
Professor McGonagall was coming out of the Great Hall to see what the commotion was and when she saw it, she had to stop and look again, "Professor Moody, what are you doing?"
"Teaching."
"Teach… is that a student?" She shrieked. "Change him back at once!"
Moody scowled but did as he was told, "I'll be speaking to your head of house about this, lad." He growled, low and warningly.
Draco ran off, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.
Professor McGonagall proceeded to lecture Professor Moody, and was still going when the gang finally got in for food.
Ron had the biggest smile on his face that they'd seen for a while.
"You ok Ron?"
"Don't talk to me." Ron said dreamily, sorting out his plate.
"Why?" Yugi asked, confused.
"I want to remember that forever, Malfoy, the bouncing ferret!"
Joey and Harry had to try not to laugh, having seen the disapproving look on Hermione's face, while Yugi was content with small smile and large mountain of food.
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"Any idea who the guard is tonight?" Harry asked Yami, who was currently sat on the table in his mind, helping him with a couple of spells that he was certain would help protect Harry's mind against any more intrusions.
It would be easy for Harry to shove the last few locks into place once Yami had left.
"It's a light," Yami tilted his head, trying see what the Puzzle would tell him, "If it's who I think it is, they're supposed to be in bed in the dorms."
"Kari?" Harry laughed, "It's got to be a good sign right? Ombre wouldn't let her out of her sight if she wasn't recovering well."
"I know, I know." Yami smiled ruefully.
"You're being too protective of your big sister, Yami."
"I thought we agreed you were going to stop the age jokes."
"Sorry."
"No you're not, not even slightly." Yami sighed, "Feel that?" He asked as he shoved one particularly nasty spell into place, the mental equivalent of Mirror Force, perfectly harmless to Harry and those Harry subconsciously considered allies, but a trap for anyone else daring to come too far in. It was a last resort mind block, but Harry hadn't needed much convincing to let Yami help him with it.
Harry considered, feeling like the room had been strengthened, "I thought it would feel restraining." He said.
"No, it's a mental shield for Shadow Wielders, and we need our minds to be able to work at full capacity when we're using our magic, if anything being able to have it proves you've been spending far too much time with Yugi and I."
Harry snorted, "Didn't your easy entry into my mind tell you that?"
"No, that tells me that I'm going to have to find out who the mind mage is that's been playing with your mind without your knowledge and Shadow Game him." Yami's tone turned rather vindictive and for a moment Harry was reminded of Psycho Yami from the summer before, before Yami shrugged and said, "But I'd have to research the type of magic, find out who had it and then get them alone first anyway."
"You scare me sometimes." Harry admitted, "But you have to be scary, because you're darkness and though dark isn't evil, it does scare people. You're scary so Yugi doesn't have to be."
"You know, the more time I spend in here, the more I wonder why we haven't thought of things like this before."
"You're getting an outsider's look for a change." Harry pointed out, "What's the last lock on that one by the way?"
"It doesn't have one, it's already up." Yami assured him, "It won't stop me getting out or in, but whoever left the doors open won't be getting back in." Yami looked like he was considering something, "I think you'll wake up tomorrow."
"Really?" Harry frowned, finding he wasn't actually looking forward to being alone in his head again.
"You don't sound too keen." Yami frowned at him.
"Well, it's that… you haven't had a chance to look around yet and…"
"I don't have to stay once you've woken up for the first time." Yami said, "In fact Madam Pomfrey may insist that I leave."
"No." Harry shook his head, "You can feel it too, can't you? That something's not right."
Yami nodded, it was something they'd noticed when they'd been pushing the spells into place, something in Harry's mind was rebelling against the powers now at work in Harry's mind.
It looked like Harry wanted him there when he looked into what it was.
Yami however, had been the one to insist that they didn't play around with Harry's mind until he had woken up the first time, something about the human mind being able to recover faster once contact had been reinstated with the human world and the shadows having less of a hold on it once it had happened.
Yami hadn't been able to explain it, he'd just known it.
"Yami?"
"Hum?" Yami looked over at him, from where he'd been considering the candle on the table next to him.
"I don't understand something."
"What's that?"
"Well, you said a couple of years ago that proximity to the Millennium Items didn't increase the likelihood of a person being able to use the Shadow Magic, right?"
"Right?"
"Then how come me, Ron, Hermione and a couple of others have been finding it easier to summon our monsters to larger sizes with wand magic then others? People who haven't been in close range for a long time?"
Yami frowned, "Uhhhh."
Harry laughed, "Ok, so one to ask you after you get your memories back."
Yami just mock glared him.
"What? It was a valid point."
Yami flipped him off and looked around, "Your room's still darker then I would have thought of you Harry." Yami said, considering, "I mean don't get me wrong, I never expected your room to match up to the brightness of Yugi's but still…"
"You know what my home life was like." Harry pointed out, "And some of it might be because of whatever's here that's not supposed to be."
"Point."
"We'll find out soon enough." Harry sighed, feeling sleepy again. "Damn it, when am I going to stop sleeping?"
"Trust me, when you wake up in the Human World, you'll feel like rubbish and you'll want to sleep again."
"So my mind's recovered… almost…"
"And your body has to follow, but it takes less time, unless there was some special condition on the duel…" Yami frowned at him.
"Souls on the line only."
"I wish you wouldn't make that sound so ordinary."
Harry just grinned at him.
"Go to sleep Harry." Yami sighed.
"You're as tired as I am!" Harry saw it, through a chink in Yami's emotional armour; it was hard to hide things from each other here. "How much is this draining you?"
"Not enough to be worried about, it's more the spell weaving that was the hard part." Yami tried to wave off Harry's concern. "Besides, I'll go to sleep soon as well."
"On the floor!" Harry protested. "How do you conjure things in your Soul Room?"
"Just believe it is there and it appears, sorry, not helpful, but best guide I can give."
In a heartbeat a second four poster bed had appeared, "Thanks…" Yami trailed off as he saw Harry had fallen asleep from the effort, he smiled and tucked his friend in. "Night Harry." He murmured before taking the second bed, slipping easily into sleep.
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Thursday morning was cold and when the gang came in from morning training, they dove straight upstairs for warm showers before they even considered going for breakfast.
They were looking forward to class today, it was their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Moody and Yugi just knew that Yami would want a copy of Yugi's memories from this class even without having heard all the hype that had been going around the school this week.
Breakfast was dawdled over but lunch certainly wasn't, with the majority of the gang in the queue for class, before the bell had gone for the end of lunch, even Hermione and Kari were in the queue, reading some more books that they'd borrowed from the library.
Hurrying into seats at the front of the class and pulling out their text books and wands, waiting for their professor to arrive, and grinning excitedly.
"You can put those away," Moody said as he slumped over his desk and stared at the class, "Those books, you won't need them."
Moody took the register, his magical eye fixing on all of them as they answered and once finished he looked, with both eyes at the group at the front and asked, "Potter and Muto?"
"Hospital Wing, sir." Yugi answered, "Have been since Monday."
Moody didn't reply to that, explaining that he'd be focusing on dark curses during his time with them, that he was supposed to be only teaching them counter curses, but he would be demonstrating them as Professor Dumbledore had a higher opinion of how much their nerves could take before having a go at Lavender for not paying attention.
She sheepishly put away her horoscope, which she'd been showing Pavarti under the table. Proving the rumour that had been going around that Moody could see through wood and other objects as well as the back of his head.
"Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished in Wizarding law?"
Several hands shot up, including Hermione, Ron, Kari and Yugi.
Moody pointed at Ron, who answered, "Uhhh… the Imperius Curse?"
"Ronald Weasley, right?" Moody asked, Ron nodded, "Your father would have mentioned that one, it gave the Ministry a headache during the last war." Moody took a huge black spider out of a jar and put it on his desk, where it scuttled towards the gang, making Ron recoil slightly.
The entire class leaned forward as Moody pointed his wand at it, "Imperio!"
The spider jerked forward for a moment, before tap dancing down the table. Most of the class were in fits of laughter, but Yugi had caught Joey's gaze and the clenching of the teen's fists. It was a control spell, Yugi was about to send out his own magicks to see exactly how it worked when Moody spoke again, "You think it's funny do you?" The Professor asked, "You'd like it? Would you? If I did it to you?"
The class fell silent.
"Total control." Moody said softly, noting the supportive hand now resting on Joey's arm, as the spider balled himself up and rolled over and over and over, "I could make it jump down your throat, chuck itself out a window…"
"That is way too close to the powers to the Millennium Rod." Yugi growled mentally, as Moody explained about how some of Voldemort's followers had been under the curse and some had pretended to, to escape prison. Joey gave him a slightly wavering smile as Yugi caught his eye.
"Anyone else know one?" Moody asked, "Another illegal curse?"
Yugi, Kari, Hermione and surprisingly Neville's hands shot up. Moody's rolled around to Neville.
"The C…Cruciatus Curse." Neville said in a small but distinct voice.
"Longbottom, right?" Moody asked. Neville nodded but Moody didn't say anything, just reaching into the jar for the second spider. Casting an enlarging spell to make it bigger.
"Crucio!"
The spider curled in on itself, twitching horribly. There was no mistaking that if the spider could have screamed it would have.
"Stop it!" Hermione shrieked.
Ombre's attention was caught by the pale look on her hikari's face, while Hermione and Yugi were concerned by the whiteness and horrified look of Neville's.
Moody cut the spell off, shrinking the spider down again. "Cruciatus. You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can use it." Moody looked around, "Anyone know any others?"
Hermione's hand shook as she raised it.
"Yes?"
"Avada Kedava." Hermione gulped.
Several people looked at her uneasily, but her friends had known it was to come, having escaped from it already.
"Ah." Moody said, a slight smile forming on his twisted lips, "The last and worse, the killing curse." He got the last spider out.
"Avada Kedava!" He said, pointing his wand at it. There was a bright flash of green and the spider rolled over, dead. "Not nice, not pleasant and there's no way to block it. Only one person has survived it and he's currently in the Hospital Wing."
Everyone knew who he was talking about, and the gang looked at each other, deciding not to bring that snippet up when giving Harry and Yami the class notes.
When the bell finally went for the end of the lesson, the group just stopped around the corner from the classroom, seeing Moody led Neville off for a cup of tea and how terrified the teen looked.
"Kari, are you alright?"
"Xuan." She muttered, "No wonder Robyn was so pissed at him."
"Huh?"
"Legellimency, the Cruciatus, they're all Wizarding spells, illegal ones… well Legellimency is only illegal if you're unregistered and I bet he was…" Kari shuddered, "Can we just eat and head up to the Hospital Wing please?"
They nodded but Yugi hung back, grabbing Joey's arm, "You ok?"
"Fine Yuge." Joey shook himself, "I wonder how much control that Imperius gives someone over you."
"A lot, it sounds like…"
"It has to be easier to break then the Millennium Rod's powers, right?" Joey asked.
"I…" Yugi found he couldn't reassure Joey, as much as he'd like to. "You'd be harder to control after Marik, Joey. You fought for control once and won, you can do it again."
Joey would have preferred this once, for Yugi to have lied to him, but he knew his best friend was right, not comparing spell power until he'd seen it on a human, first hand.
"Come on, foods up." Yugi smiled slightly, catching up with the group who'd stopped to wait for them by the stairs. "Let's go."
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Ron and Hermione were in the middle of a debate about the amount of times Ron could be trampled by a Hippogriff in his divination homework when Harry woke up, sitting up slowly, putting his glasses on and catching Joey's attention first, winking at him.
"You shouldn't be making things up Ron!" Hermione was growling.
"Isn't that our usual fall back?" Harry asked, making those facing the other way jump and causing a round of hugs.
"You feeling ok?" Yugi asked.
Harry rubbed his forehead, where a headache was forming. "Getting there." He gave the teen a reassuring smile, then paused as Yami asked him to pass on something, "And Yami says I should be out tomorrow evening."
Yugi smiled and Joey whooped, catching the attention of Madam Pomfrey.
"Don't scare us like that!" Hermione growled at him as they were ushered away by the Nurse.
Once Madam Pomfrey had given the ok, the gang rejoined their friend who looked like he was desperate for news. "It is Thursday, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeap."
"Morning or afternoon?"
"Evening."
"Damn, so we missed Professor Moody's first class." Harry paused as everyone's faces grew dark for a second, "What?"
"He demonstrated the Unforgivables." Kari growled, "There's two more to go with Avada Kedava apparently."
"Really?" Harry asked, "What?"
"The Imperius." Joey said, "Which is a little too much like the powers of the Millennium Rod for my liking and the Cruciatus, a torture spell, causes pain, lots of it."
Harry opened his mouth, paused, Joey smiling slightly as Harry gained the faraway look that reminded him of the look Yugi used to gain when he'd been listening to Yami and had shared a body with the Pharaoh. "Yami wants the memories of the class please Yugi, when he's out."
"Sure." Yugi nodded. "I thought he would."
"I don't understand something." Harry said, mentally holding up a hand at Yami's questions for Yugi, "If they're Unforgivables, how come Moody could use them in class?"
"They're only illegal on humans…" Yugi trailed off. "Oh…"
Yami had stopped badgering in Harry's mind as well, the implications sinking in easily.
"Yugi… how many people know about…" Joey said carefully.
"Almost all of them are in this room." Yugi assured them.
There was silence for a moment, and then conversation turned to the other classes of the week, including Neville's successful melting of a cauldron in potions and the all the fun of Blast-Ended Screwts.
"So we haven't missed much then really." Harry joked, causing a round of laughs or amused snorts. He yawned and the gang stood up, "Sorry."
"You'll be out soon." Hermione's eyes were glinting dangerously, "And then we'll badger you incessantly."
"I look forward to it." Harry said with a small grin. "Oh, do I need a guard tonight?"
"You knew?"
"The first night it was Yugi." Harry pointed out, "Yami could sense him."
"Point." Yugi smiled. "It's been me, Ron, Kari, who's up for it tonight?"
"My turn." Joey said, bagging it first. "I finished my homework at lunch."
"Covering it in food in the process." Ron accused.
Joey shrugged, "I'll just copy it over, it's not due in till Monday."
"Night guys." Ombre led the group out, nodding to Professor Dumbledore as they passed him on his way in.
"Mr Wheeler, can I speak to Mr Potter privately for a moment?" The Headmaster asked.
"Yes, sir." Joey wandered further up the ward, giving Madam Pomfrey a hand with some packing away to allow the Professor to talk to Harry semi-privately. The Headmaster couldn't know Yami was in Harry's head, and so couldn't know someone actually was listening in on their conversation.
"Mr Potter… Harry… I'm glad to see that you're making a full recovery."
"So am I Professor." Harry said, "Hey Yami, what do you think he wants?"
'Dunno.' The Pharaoh replied, 'He had to have rushed down here for a reason.'
"Do you remember what happened?"
"How much do I tell him?" Harry asked the Pharaoh.
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked before Yami could answer.
"A Shadow Game." Harry answered, figuring the Professor probably knew that much, "With a Slytherin Student. I won."
"Good, good." Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling.
'You're not supposed to be in here.' Harry heard Yami growl at someone, a moment before he got a blinding headache that passed as quickly as it came.
"Ow!" Harry growled at the Pharaoh.
'Sorry Harry.' Yami's reply was tense and short.
Dumbledore looked surprised and a little angry, "Mr Potter, would you like to explain why Mr Muto is in your head?"
'Ask him why he was in your head first!' Yami growled.
"Yami!" Harry growled, "Yami wants to know why you were in my head, sir." He said reasonably.
"I wanted to check nothing had been damaged or changed by the Shadow Magic."
'Without your permission?' Yami sounded incredulous.
"Yami, I'm not Yugi, I can't have a conversation in my head and one out loud at the same time, I'm going to get confused in a minute." Harry growled. "You could have asked sir," he said out loud, "Yami's been helping me recover faster, offering his own energy and powers to help mine get over the strain of the Shadow Realm faster."
Professor Dumbledore look irritated for a moment, before it was wiped from his face and Harry would have missed it, if he had blinked. "Is it safe? To have two minds in one body, when your soul is complete?" He asked, "After all, Yami shared minds with Yugi, but they are two halves of the same soul. They're supposed to be as one."
"I don't think it's harming me." Harry said, thinking about it, when Yami didn't have an answer, having done it without thinking. "Yami's going to leave the moment I'm strong enough to be on my own again, I'm awake right now, but I'm exhausted. Yami's been giving me some of his energy to keep me awake." Harry thought of something else, "Just because Yugi and Yami are two halves of the same soul, doesn't mean their minds aren't their own and whole. So surely it's no different."
"That be as it may, as your Headmaster, I must insist that all students refrain from possession."
'Harry, he's trying to distract you.'
"And as a student, I must object to having my mind read without my permission." Harry replied to Dumbledore, "Thanks Yami."
"I was only trying to make sure you were alright." Dumbledore sounded for a moment like a kindly old man.
"Yami said that it's rude to enter someone's mind without permission." Harry retorted, "I've given him permission so he can help me, but you didn't ask."
A moments silence descended as the two wizards stared at each other stubbornly.
"Harry, it's for the greater good."
"No." Harry could sense Yami's growing irritation with the Headmaster.
"When you are feeling better then." The Headmaster rose, "And I expect Yami to be gone by the end of the day."
"Good bye." Harry didn't feel slightly sorry as the Headmaster left, only deciding there and then to go after whatever was in his mind that shouldn't be… bar the Pharaoh now, rather then wait for tonight like they had planned. Joey rejoined them, as Harry dove into his soul room. "What was that headache about?"
"He ran into one of the barrier spells." Yami growled. "I had no idea he could do that."
Harry paused, "Do you think he's been in everyone else's minds?"
"I wish I could say no." Yami growled. "But I don't doubt he's at least tried."
"What did he mean 'for the greater good'?"
"There's obviously something important in your mind." Yami looked around. "Or he's being manipulative again. From a soul room a mind can be manipulated, changed even, and what happens in a Soul Room stays happened."
"So?" Harry didn't quite understand the implications.
"If he can get in here, he can change things about the way you think, or the way you feel, a Soul Room is the very essence of a soul, the personification of everything the person is, why do you think I've been as careful as I have to not disturb anything?"
The implications sank in. "Oh." He paused, "So what does adding a second bed to this room mean?"
"I don't know, but Yugi creates things in his soul room all the time and it doesn't seem to affect him."
"Perhaps it's just the things that appear from nowhere after a good or bad experience that matter." Harry guessed, indicating the Sword of Gryffindor on his bookcase.
Yami nodded, examining the shelving unit, having not actually noticed it before. Harry was surprisingly good at hiding parts of his Soul Room until he was ready to reveal them.
"So, finding that thing that was here before you got here, that shouldn't be here?" Harry asked.
Yami nodded, "Let's deal with it before Dumbledore comes back and demands that I leave."
"What're we looking for?" Harry asked.
"Something that doesn't belong here, an odd object or a strange door, or…" Yami paused, "Can I have full permission to enter your mind? I won't be able to help if you find it and it's still hidden from me." Yami pointed out, "It's not like I'm going to be coming back here once this is over after all."
Harry hesitated, then nodded and the room almost doubled in size, with several more candles lighting up.
"Wow, big."
"Not as big as yours I'd bet."
"Mine is impossible to navigate." Yami growled in self-irritation. "I can't find half the stuff I'm looking for sometimes."
"Is that why you forget things?" Harry teased.
"I don't…" Yami broke off and glared at him.
Harry laughed as he started looking around, "You're getting better, it seems like you're recovering some things on your own. You have more memories then you did when you first got here."
"True, but they don't really add up at the moment, there's too big a gap between them." Yami said, pausing as he came across a plushie of Gold Winged Wolf. "Harry?" He asked.
"Leave it." Harry growled at him, just knowing Yami would tease him about it.
Yami surprised him by not saying a word, but carrying on looking around.
Harry was near the back of the room when he came across the kind of thing he guessed they were looking for. A dark wooded door that felt like it had been here as long as Harry could remember, but didn't tie in with the rest of the room. "Yami…"
The pharaoh came over and frowned as he looked at the door, "How did we miss this?"
Harry reached for the door handle. "Should I?"
Yami nodded, and Harry opened the door. For a moment nothing happened, and then a wave of dark energy waved out through the door and knocked both boys backwards.
"What?" Harry asked, but Yami was already on his feet between Harry and the door.
"I thought something had to be attributing to the darkness in your room and this is it." Yami growled. "Show yourself, you don't belong here."
Harry watched in shock as the most grotesque toddler Harry had ever seen waddled out of the door, staring at both of them. He felt Yami's shadows weave around them in protection but didn't take his eyes off of the creature.
"Who and what are you to be invading the mind of one protected by the Gods of Egypt?" Yami growled, causing Harry to look at him in shock, did Yami realise what he had just said?
The toddler just turned and looked at the Pharaoh, whose shadows weaved around it, testing what it was, and then recoiled as if burnt, just as Yami had. "A soul fragment?" The Pharaoh looked horrified, "Not even a half like me and Yugi."
"A soul fragment?" Harry yelped. "A piece of mine?"
"No." On this Yami seemed completely certain. "You're not welcome inside this young one's mind, leave or I will make you."
"How?" The toddler laughed, "You're no more a part of his mind then I am."
Yami and Harry froze, looked at each other, recognising the tone, and then glared as one at the toddler, "You're a fragment of Voldemort's soul." Yami's tone was low and dangerous. Harry took two steps back, Pharaoh was pissed and you didn't interfere unless he was about to do something really stupid. "When did you make your home here?"
"I've been here longer then he's been protected by your shallow magicks, your highness." The soul fragment was sarcastic, "You can't get rid of me."
"Harry, I'd like your permission to rid your mind of this… this thing…" Yami snarled.
"I want him gone, go right ahead Yami."
"I challenge you." Yami snarled at the soul fragment, "To a Shadow Game."
"Hey Yuge!" Joey waved him over, "Anything?"
"Not yet." Yugi shook his head, dropping his bag and stretching out, "But it'll take a while for Harry to recover, even though he won. The first Shadow Game is always the hardest."
Seto snorted and Joey nodded briefly, both having experienced one before.
Their run completed, they were all warmed up and ready as they paired up for combat training, Hermione and Ombre paired up, the Princess showing the bookworm some of the more basic moves, since she hadn't really sat in on Yugi and Harry's lessons from Joey, and Joey would have paired up with Yugi had Ron not grabbed the smaller teen first.
Joey frowned but, at a reassuring nod from Yugi, shrugged and paired up with Kaiba, who was a much better match for him anyway.
"Ready Ron?" Yugi asked, settling into a stance that Joey had taught him. He'd never felt easy in one of the overly stylised martial arts stances, but had shifted easily into the less formal 'ready' stances of Joey's street fighting style.
Ron just nodded, scowling as he shifted into his own stance.
"Ron?" Yugi asked, frowning and wondering if it wouldn't have been better to pair up with Joey after all.
Ron attacked first, punching high and was blocked easily by the Heir, who countered with a couple of punches of his own, one of which was blocked, the other struck home, but since they were only training, it didn't hurt too much.
Ron, however, wasn't playing, and the kick to Yugi's side had the teen doubled over and he had to drop to avoid the next punch, attempting to sweep out Ron's legs, only missing knocking him over by dint of Ron jumping over him.
"What are you playing at?" Yugi demanded as he got back to feet and blocked the next few attacks, countering with his own when he could get an attack in edgeways.
"You were wrong." Ron growled, catching Yugi's side kick and twisting Yugi's leg, making the Heir yelp and end up face first on the ground.
Ron backed off to let Yugi get up, and for a moment was scared of the glare the young man was giving him, before countering with a glare of his own. "Wrong about what?" Yugi growled.
The two circled, not taking their eyes off of each other, "You shouldn't have done it." Ron growled, attacking again.
Yugi was ready for him, blocking and dodging easily. "You're mad I took the Penalty Game off."
"Harry's hurt because you did." Ron snapped back, attempting to hit Yugi and getting even madder because everything was missing.
He didn't understand that being mad meant that he wasn't watching his body language and Yugi could read his next moves like an open book.
"I know that." Yugi growled back, refusing to throw a punch when his opponent wasn't thinking clearly, "You think I don't feel guilty about it?"
Ron muttered something unintelligible under his breath and attacked again, faster then Yugi had given him credit for and landing a lucky hit, sending the Heir sprawling with a punch to the face that had Yugi holding his cheek and seeing whether any of his teeth had come loose.
"That's enough." Joey planted himself firmly between his friends, "You ok Yuge?" He looked back over his shoulder for a moment, as Seto offered Yugi a hand up.
"Fine." Yugi growled, still holding his cheek, there was one loose tooth, and he was certain it would bruise painfully.
"Madam Pomfrey." Seto said firmly, glancing at Joey who nodded, silent communication passing between the two that was something like, 'you wanna deal with him, or can I have the pleasure?'
"I'll take him up." Joey said, "We'll see you at breakfast."
Seto waited until Joey had pushed Yugi up towards the school, knowing that if Ron had broken anything, Madam Pomfrey could deal with it, before turning to the still irritated young man. "You're an idiot." Seto growled at him, waving at Ombre to continue the lesson with Hermione.
Ron didn't look like he comprehended, making Seto even angrier, "Let me guess, that was about the events of yesterday?"
"It was Yugi's fault."
"Yugi had to do what Yugi had to do. Shadow Magic isn't all black and white, good and evil, you have to choose your battles half the time. Yugi obviously had a good reason for lifting the Penalty Game. Think about it would you?"
Ron couldn't think of a good reason and told Seto so.
"Yugi lifted the Game now, and Draco attacked the group. Now think who Draco would have had to attack to get to Harry before the Penalty was lifted you moron."
Ron paused.
"Now you see why the game was lifted now, instead of waiting for a redemption that wasn't going to come?" Seto hated explaining to idiots and Ron was certainly acting like one. "Now, if you want to have a proper fight, I'll be quite happy to fight you, but after that little display, I won't be taking it easy on you."
Ron backed up a step, as mad as he was, fighting properly with Kaiba was not high on his to do list after yesterday's training session, when Joey and Seto had spent the better part of the session beating ten tons of rubbish out of each other.
"Well?" Kaiba asked, shifting into an offensive stance.
Ron shifted into one of his own. "Fine."
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Breakfast at the Gryffindor Table was quiet for their group, although some of that was because Ron, who'd been the most vocal since the Quidditch World Cup, was in the Hospital Wing, and no one else felt much like talking, though to be fair to Yugi it was mostly because while Madam Pomfrey had healed his mouth, it still hurt.
Joey looked over the heads at the various tables and caught Seto's eyes, not hard considering both were among the tallest in their years and that Seto had been trying to catch his eye for the last ten minutes.
Seto looked towards Yugi, also not hard, you just looked for the three coloured star, and then gave Joey a questioning look.
Joey just rolled his eyes, making Seto snort.
Then it was time for class again and all the fun of potions.
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Ron didn't understand it.
He was sat down in the Great Hall, finally having been released for lunch, and still hadn't quite grasped why Seto had been so mad at him this morning.
Yugi had had a good reason, he got that now, but it had still been a stupid thing to do, if he was going to do it, shouldn't he have warned his friends about possible Shadow Games?
He looked up from his meal as the gang walked in, expecting the glares that graced Ombre and Joey's faces.
What he didn't expect was the resigned and almost defeated look on Yugi's as the Heir, whose cheek was still bruised, uncorked a vial which looked like it contained the same sort of potion that Madam Pomfrey had given him for his bruises, downed it in one and started eating.
"Yugi…" Ron called, knowing how much trouble he would be in when Yami woke up if he found out Ron had actually attacked his hikari during practise, "Yugi, I wanted to say I'm sorry for this morning."
Joey went to say something, but a glance from Yugi made him sit down and start eating, "It's fine." Yugi said, sighing, "I expected you guys to be mad at me."
"I shouldn't have lashed out."
"I went into combat training with people I was sure would be pissed off with me." Yugi shrugged, "It's fine, honest."
Ron frowned at the reassurance, since Yugi had said that it was 'fine'. Did he actually mean that it was ok, or was he hinting that it wasn't ok and that he was still mad at him?
"If you're worried I'm going to tell Yami when he wakes up, you needn't be." Yugi smiled slightly, wincing and putting a hand to his cheek, "I'll leave it out if you want."
"Please." Ron nodded.
Yugi went back to work on his plate of food and Ron relaxed, piling food on that actually went well together and scarfing it all down.
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Yugi was asleep already, homework done, and Ron was in the Hospital Wing, having drawn the strongest monster, so Joey wasn't too worried about leaving the dorm and heading downstairs, where the Weasley twins were scheming something or another, probably to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Hermione was up with a huge book that looked older then the Puzzle.
Of course he knew the book couldn't actually be older then the puzzle, but gold kept a lot better over time then paper did and this book looked like it had seen a lot of wear and tear.
"Anything interesting?"
"Did you know it's possible to summon the Shadows with wand magic, but it's not possible to control it?" Hermione asked without looking up.
"You'd need a Millennium Item to control it, and even then I think it's a lot harder then Yami or Bakura makes it look, I mean look how much training Yugi's been getting." Joey said, sitting down next to her, "Is that what you've been researching?"
"No." Hermione shook her head, "We're not ready to tell you about those yet, this is my own research."
"Why?" Joey was concerned for his friend.
"Any books on that have references to the Shadows are another link back to Yami and Ombre's time, and another reference we didn't have before on how the Shadows work exactly." Hermione replied, "Book?"
Joey accepted one and frowned at it, it looked almost as old as the one Hermione was reading, "Ancient Rites And Rituals?"
"Everything I've found on it so far has led back to Blood Rituals." Hermione scowled at her book, "I don't think Yami or Ombre would have had anything to do with them but…"
"There had to be a Pharaoh before Yami." Joey said reasonably. "Where did you get these? They look ancient."
"I got Professor Moody to check them over, someone slipped them into my school bag at the Quidditch World Cup." Hermione saw the look she was getting from Joey, "Professor Moody says they're not hexed or anything and you've heard about how paranoid he is. After the diary I wasn't stupid enough to open them before someone had checked them over."
"Fair enough." Joey settled in, opening the book to the first page.
"Joey?" Hermione's pause made the young man look up.
"Sup?"
"I was wondering about something."
"What's that?"
"Well… Ombre claims you have a link to the past."
"No, I don't have a yami."
"That wasn't what I was going to ask."
"Then spill."
"Do you think you'd have some of the connections to the Shadow Magic that Yugi, Kari and Seto have?"
"I don't have Yugi or Kari's level of Shadow Control, and Kaiba's only ever gotten a reaction from a Millennium Item once, I guess it could explain how I held on so long when I was fighting Yami Marik, but I've never been able to use the Shadows."
"Have you ever tried?"
"I don't know if I'd want to." Joey admitted, "I don't think I'd have the sort of control that I'd need. I'm too prone to flying off the handle."
Hermione snorted, an amused smile gracing her face, "No comment."
"You're not supposed to agree with me." Joey complained.
Hermione just laughed and started reading again.
"Zero respect." Joey grumbled as he read the first few lines, making Hermione grin behind her book.
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Wednesday morning Ron didn't come to training, didn't eat with them at breakfast and didn't sit with them during classes.
They were wondering if they were going to see him when Draco Malfoy started making comments from further down the line to the Great Hall, about people with hedgehog hair, people who crave fame and about gaudy jewellery.
"What does he think the Ring is?" Yugi muttered low enough for only his friends to hear. "It's bigger then the Puzzle."
"Ignore him Yuge and he'll go away." Joey growled, wanting to go have a 'talk' with Draco but restraining himself because he had no great urge to be knocked out cold in a Shadow Game, just before dinner.
Draco's comments continued the further down the line they got, irritating the gang no end, until finally Joey snapped and wheeled around, glaring at Draco, "You've been wearing bigger jewellery then Yuge has, are you compensating for something?" Joey asked.
"Shut up Wheeler!" Draco growled, "Or I'll put you where I put Potter."
"We're not afraid of you Mouthboy." Joey snorted, "You talk big, but you had to have Bakura bail you out, and Harry still won." Joey turned around to say something to Yugi but before he could open his mouth there was a bang, something hot had passed Joey's face, and the entire gang had gone for their wands.
"No you don't!" Someone roared as a second bang went off.
The gang watched in shock as Moody appeared on the scene, pointing his wand at a blonde ferret.
"He get you?" Moody asked Joey.
"Missed." Joey said with a low growl.
"Good." Moody looked approving, "Your friends have good reflexes too."
Joey hadn't noticed before that moment that Ron had somehow got into the group and had his wand drawn too.
Moody turned to the ferret, levitating it and letting it fall. "Never attack when someone's back is turned."
Professor McGonagall was coming out of the Great Hall to see what the commotion was and when she saw it, she had to stop and look again, "Professor Moody, what are you doing?"
"Teaching."
"Teach… is that a student?" She shrieked. "Change him back at once!"
Moody scowled but did as he was told, "I'll be speaking to your head of house about this, lad." He growled, low and warningly.
Draco ran off, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.
Professor McGonagall proceeded to lecture Professor Moody, and was still going when the gang finally got in for food.
Ron had the biggest smile on his face that they'd seen for a while.
"You ok Ron?"
"Don't talk to me." Ron said dreamily, sorting out his plate.
"Why?" Yugi asked, confused.
"I want to remember that forever, Malfoy, the bouncing ferret!"
Joey and Harry had to try not to laugh, having seen the disapproving look on Hermione's face, while Yugi was content with small smile and large mountain of food.
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"Any idea who the guard is tonight?" Harry asked Yami, who was currently sat on the table in his mind, helping him with a couple of spells that he was certain would help protect Harry's mind against any more intrusions.
It would be easy for Harry to shove the last few locks into place once Yami had left.
"It's a light," Yami tilted his head, trying see what the Puzzle would tell him, "If it's who I think it is, they're supposed to be in bed in the dorms."
"Kari?" Harry laughed, "It's got to be a good sign right? Ombre wouldn't let her out of her sight if she wasn't recovering well."
"I know, I know." Yami smiled ruefully.
"You're being too protective of your big sister, Yami."
"I thought we agreed you were going to stop the age jokes."
"Sorry."
"No you're not, not even slightly." Yami sighed, "Feel that?" He asked as he shoved one particularly nasty spell into place, the mental equivalent of Mirror Force, perfectly harmless to Harry and those Harry subconsciously considered allies, but a trap for anyone else daring to come too far in. It was a last resort mind block, but Harry hadn't needed much convincing to let Yami help him with it.
Harry considered, feeling like the room had been strengthened, "I thought it would feel restraining." He said.
"No, it's a mental shield for Shadow Wielders, and we need our minds to be able to work at full capacity when we're using our magic, if anything being able to have it proves you've been spending far too much time with Yugi and I."
Harry snorted, "Didn't your easy entry into my mind tell you that?"
"No, that tells me that I'm going to have to find out who the mind mage is that's been playing with your mind without your knowledge and Shadow Game him." Yami's tone turned rather vindictive and for a moment Harry was reminded of Psycho Yami from the summer before, before Yami shrugged and said, "But I'd have to research the type of magic, find out who had it and then get them alone first anyway."
"You scare me sometimes." Harry admitted, "But you have to be scary, because you're darkness and though dark isn't evil, it does scare people. You're scary so Yugi doesn't have to be."
"You know, the more time I spend in here, the more I wonder why we haven't thought of things like this before."
"You're getting an outsider's look for a change." Harry pointed out, "What's the last lock on that one by the way?"
"It doesn't have one, it's already up." Yami assured him, "It won't stop me getting out or in, but whoever left the doors open won't be getting back in." Yami looked like he was considering something, "I think you'll wake up tomorrow."
"Really?" Harry frowned, finding he wasn't actually looking forward to being alone in his head again.
"You don't sound too keen." Yami frowned at him.
"Well, it's that… you haven't had a chance to look around yet and…"
"I don't have to stay once you've woken up for the first time." Yami said, "In fact Madam Pomfrey may insist that I leave."
"No." Harry shook his head, "You can feel it too, can't you? That something's not right."
Yami nodded, it was something they'd noticed when they'd been pushing the spells into place, something in Harry's mind was rebelling against the powers now at work in Harry's mind.
It looked like Harry wanted him there when he looked into what it was.
Yami however, had been the one to insist that they didn't play around with Harry's mind until he had woken up the first time, something about the human mind being able to recover faster once contact had been reinstated with the human world and the shadows having less of a hold on it once it had happened.
Yami hadn't been able to explain it, he'd just known it.
"Yami?"
"Hum?" Yami looked over at him, from where he'd been considering the candle on the table next to him.
"I don't understand something."
"What's that?"
"Well, you said a couple of years ago that proximity to the Millennium Items didn't increase the likelihood of a person being able to use the Shadow Magic, right?"
"Right?"
"Then how come me, Ron, Hermione and a couple of others have been finding it easier to summon our monsters to larger sizes with wand magic then others? People who haven't been in close range for a long time?"
Yami frowned, "Uhhhh."
Harry laughed, "Ok, so one to ask you after you get your memories back."
Yami just mock glared him.
"What? It was a valid point."
Yami flipped him off and looked around, "Your room's still darker then I would have thought of you Harry." Yami said, considering, "I mean don't get me wrong, I never expected your room to match up to the brightness of Yugi's but still…"
"You know what my home life was like." Harry pointed out, "And some of it might be because of whatever's here that's not supposed to be."
"Point."
"We'll find out soon enough." Harry sighed, feeling sleepy again. "Damn it, when am I going to stop sleeping?"
"Trust me, when you wake up in the Human World, you'll feel like rubbish and you'll want to sleep again."
"So my mind's recovered… almost…"
"And your body has to follow, but it takes less time, unless there was some special condition on the duel…" Yami frowned at him.
"Souls on the line only."
"I wish you wouldn't make that sound so ordinary."
Harry just grinned at him.
"Go to sleep Harry." Yami sighed.
"You're as tired as I am!" Harry saw it, through a chink in Yami's emotional armour; it was hard to hide things from each other here. "How much is this draining you?"
"Not enough to be worried about, it's more the spell weaving that was the hard part." Yami tried to wave off Harry's concern. "Besides, I'll go to sleep soon as well."
"On the floor!" Harry protested. "How do you conjure things in your Soul Room?"
"Just believe it is there and it appears, sorry, not helpful, but best guide I can give."
In a heartbeat a second four poster bed had appeared, "Thanks…" Yami trailed off as he saw Harry had fallen asleep from the effort, he smiled and tucked his friend in. "Night Harry." He murmured before taking the second bed, slipping easily into sleep.
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Thursday morning was cold and when the gang came in from morning training, they dove straight upstairs for warm showers before they even considered going for breakfast.
They were looking forward to class today, it was their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Moody and Yugi just knew that Yami would want a copy of Yugi's memories from this class even without having heard all the hype that had been going around the school this week.
Breakfast was dawdled over but lunch certainly wasn't, with the majority of the gang in the queue for class, before the bell had gone for the end of lunch, even Hermione and Kari were in the queue, reading some more books that they'd borrowed from the library.
Hurrying into seats at the front of the class and pulling out their text books and wands, waiting for their professor to arrive, and grinning excitedly.
"You can put those away," Moody said as he slumped over his desk and stared at the class, "Those books, you won't need them."
Moody took the register, his magical eye fixing on all of them as they answered and once finished he looked, with both eyes at the group at the front and asked, "Potter and Muto?"
"Hospital Wing, sir." Yugi answered, "Have been since Monday."
Moody didn't reply to that, explaining that he'd be focusing on dark curses during his time with them, that he was supposed to be only teaching them counter curses, but he would be demonstrating them as Professor Dumbledore had a higher opinion of how much their nerves could take before having a go at Lavender for not paying attention.
She sheepishly put away her horoscope, which she'd been showing Pavarti under the table. Proving the rumour that had been going around that Moody could see through wood and other objects as well as the back of his head.
"Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished in Wizarding law?"
Several hands shot up, including Hermione, Ron, Kari and Yugi.
Moody pointed at Ron, who answered, "Uhhh… the Imperius Curse?"
"Ronald Weasley, right?" Moody asked, Ron nodded, "Your father would have mentioned that one, it gave the Ministry a headache during the last war." Moody took a huge black spider out of a jar and put it on his desk, where it scuttled towards the gang, making Ron recoil slightly.
The entire class leaned forward as Moody pointed his wand at it, "Imperio!"
The spider jerked forward for a moment, before tap dancing down the table. Most of the class were in fits of laughter, but Yugi had caught Joey's gaze and the clenching of the teen's fists. It was a control spell, Yugi was about to send out his own magicks to see exactly how it worked when Moody spoke again, "You think it's funny do you?" The Professor asked, "You'd like it? Would you? If I did it to you?"
The class fell silent.
"Total control." Moody said softly, noting the supportive hand now resting on Joey's arm, as the spider balled himself up and rolled over and over and over, "I could make it jump down your throat, chuck itself out a window…"
"That is way too close to the powers to the Millennium Rod." Yugi growled mentally, as Moody explained about how some of Voldemort's followers had been under the curse and some had pretended to, to escape prison. Joey gave him a slightly wavering smile as Yugi caught his eye.
"Anyone else know one?" Moody asked, "Another illegal curse?"
Yugi, Kari, Hermione and surprisingly Neville's hands shot up. Moody's rolled around to Neville.
"The C…Cruciatus Curse." Neville said in a small but distinct voice.
"Longbottom, right?" Moody asked. Neville nodded but Moody didn't say anything, just reaching into the jar for the second spider. Casting an enlarging spell to make it bigger.
"Crucio!"
The spider curled in on itself, twitching horribly. There was no mistaking that if the spider could have screamed it would have.
"Stop it!" Hermione shrieked.
Ombre's attention was caught by the pale look on her hikari's face, while Hermione and Yugi were concerned by the whiteness and horrified look of Neville's.
Moody cut the spell off, shrinking the spider down again. "Cruciatus. You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can use it." Moody looked around, "Anyone know any others?"
Hermione's hand shook as she raised it.
"Yes?"
"Avada Kedava." Hermione gulped.
Several people looked at her uneasily, but her friends had known it was to come, having escaped from it already.
"Ah." Moody said, a slight smile forming on his twisted lips, "The last and worse, the killing curse." He got the last spider out.
"Avada Kedava!" He said, pointing his wand at it. There was a bright flash of green and the spider rolled over, dead. "Not nice, not pleasant and there's no way to block it. Only one person has survived it and he's currently in the Hospital Wing."
Everyone knew who he was talking about, and the gang looked at each other, deciding not to bring that snippet up when giving Harry and Yami the class notes.
When the bell finally went for the end of the lesson, the group just stopped around the corner from the classroom, seeing Moody led Neville off for a cup of tea and how terrified the teen looked.
"Kari, are you alright?"
"Xuan." She muttered, "No wonder Robyn was so pissed at him."
"Huh?"
"Legellimency, the Cruciatus, they're all Wizarding spells, illegal ones… well Legellimency is only illegal if you're unregistered and I bet he was…" Kari shuddered, "Can we just eat and head up to the Hospital Wing please?"
They nodded but Yugi hung back, grabbing Joey's arm, "You ok?"
"Fine Yuge." Joey shook himself, "I wonder how much control that Imperius gives someone over you."
"A lot, it sounds like…"
"It has to be easier to break then the Millennium Rod's powers, right?" Joey asked.
"I…" Yugi found he couldn't reassure Joey, as much as he'd like to. "You'd be harder to control after Marik, Joey. You fought for control once and won, you can do it again."
Joey would have preferred this once, for Yugi to have lied to him, but he knew his best friend was right, not comparing spell power until he'd seen it on a human, first hand.
"Come on, foods up." Yugi smiled slightly, catching up with the group who'd stopped to wait for them by the stairs. "Let's go."
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Ron and Hermione were in the middle of a debate about the amount of times Ron could be trampled by a Hippogriff in his divination homework when Harry woke up, sitting up slowly, putting his glasses on and catching Joey's attention first, winking at him.
"You shouldn't be making things up Ron!" Hermione was growling.
"Isn't that our usual fall back?" Harry asked, making those facing the other way jump and causing a round of hugs.
"You feeling ok?" Yugi asked.
Harry rubbed his forehead, where a headache was forming. "Getting there." He gave the teen a reassuring smile, then paused as Yami asked him to pass on something, "And Yami says I should be out tomorrow evening."
Yugi smiled and Joey whooped, catching the attention of Madam Pomfrey.
"Don't scare us like that!" Hermione growled at him as they were ushered away by the Nurse.
Once Madam Pomfrey had given the ok, the gang rejoined their friend who looked like he was desperate for news. "It is Thursday, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeap."
"Morning or afternoon?"
"Evening."
"Damn, so we missed Professor Moody's first class." Harry paused as everyone's faces grew dark for a second, "What?"
"He demonstrated the Unforgivables." Kari growled, "There's two more to go with Avada Kedava apparently."
"Really?" Harry asked, "What?"
"The Imperius." Joey said, "Which is a little too much like the powers of the Millennium Rod for my liking and the Cruciatus, a torture spell, causes pain, lots of it."
Harry opened his mouth, paused, Joey smiling slightly as Harry gained the faraway look that reminded him of the look Yugi used to gain when he'd been listening to Yami and had shared a body with the Pharaoh. "Yami wants the memories of the class please Yugi, when he's out."
"Sure." Yugi nodded. "I thought he would."
"I don't understand something." Harry said, mentally holding up a hand at Yami's questions for Yugi, "If they're Unforgivables, how come Moody could use them in class?"
"They're only illegal on humans…" Yugi trailed off. "Oh…"
Yami had stopped badgering in Harry's mind as well, the implications sinking in easily.
"Yugi… how many people know about…" Joey said carefully.
"Almost all of them are in this room." Yugi assured them.
There was silence for a moment, and then conversation turned to the other classes of the week, including Neville's successful melting of a cauldron in potions and the all the fun of Blast-Ended Screwts.
"So we haven't missed much then really." Harry joked, causing a round of laughs or amused snorts. He yawned and the gang stood up, "Sorry."
"You'll be out soon." Hermione's eyes were glinting dangerously, "And then we'll badger you incessantly."
"I look forward to it." Harry said with a small grin. "Oh, do I need a guard tonight?"
"You knew?"
"The first night it was Yugi." Harry pointed out, "Yami could sense him."
"Point." Yugi smiled. "It's been me, Ron, Kari, who's up for it tonight?"
"My turn." Joey said, bagging it first. "I finished my homework at lunch."
"Covering it in food in the process." Ron accused.
Joey shrugged, "I'll just copy it over, it's not due in till Monday."
"Night guys." Ombre led the group out, nodding to Professor Dumbledore as they passed him on his way in.
"Mr Wheeler, can I speak to Mr Potter privately for a moment?" The Headmaster asked.
"Yes, sir." Joey wandered further up the ward, giving Madam Pomfrey a hand with some packing away to allow the Professor to talk to Harry semi-privately. The Headmaster couldn't know Yami was in Harry's head, and so couldn't know someone actually was listening in on their conversation.
"Mr Potter… Harry… I'm glad to see that you're making a full recovery."
"So am I Professor." Harry said, "Hey Yami, what do you think he wants?"
'Dunno.' The Pharaoh replied, 'He had to have rushed down here for a reason.'
"Do you remember what happened?"
"How much do I tell him?" Harry asked the Pharaoh.
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked before Yami could answer.
"A Shadow Game." Harry answered, figuring the Professor probably knew that much, "With a Slytherin Student. I won."
"Good, good." Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling.
'You're not supposed to be in here.' Harry heard Yami growl at someone, a moment before he got a blinding headache that passed as quickly as it came.
"Ow!" Harry growled at the Pharaoh.
'Sorry Harry.' Yami's reply was tense and short.
Dumbledore looked surprised and a little angry, "Mr Potter, would you like to explain why Mr Muto is in your head?"
'Ask him why he was in your head first!' Yami growled.
"Yami!" Harry growled, "Yami wants to know why you were in my head, sir." He said reasonably.
"I wanted to check nothing had been damaged or changed by the Shadow Magic."
'Without your permission?' Yami sounded incredulous.
"Yami, I'm not Yugi, I can't have a conversation in my head and one out loud at the same time, I'm going to get confused in a minute." Harry growled. "You could have asked sir," he said out loud, "Yami's been helping me recover faster, offering his own energy and powers to help mine get over the strain of the Shadow Realm faster."
Professor Dumbledore look irritated for a moment, before it was wiped from his face and Harry would have missed it, if he had blinked. "Is it safe? To have two minds in one body, when your soul is complete?" He asked, "After all, Yami shared minds with Yugi, but they are two halves of the same soul. They're supposed to be as one."
"I don't think it's harming me." Harry said, thinking about it, when Yami didn't have an answer, having done it without thinking. "Yami's going to leave the moment I'm strong enough to be on my own again, I'm awake right now, but I'm exhausted. Yami's been giving me some of his energy to keep me awake." Harry thought of something else, "Just because Yugi and Yami are two halves of the same soul, doesn't mean their minds aren't their own and whole. So surely it's no different."
"That be as it may, as your Headmaster, I must insist that all students refrain from possession."
'Harry, he's trying to distract you.'
"And as a student, I must object to having my mind read without my permission." Harry replied to Dumbledore, "Thanks Yami."
"I was only trying to make sure you were alright." Dumbledore sounded for a moment like a kindly old man.
"Yami said that it's rude to enter someone's mind without permission." Harry retorted, "I've given him permission so he can help me, but you didn't ask."
A moments silence descended as the two wizards stared at each other stubbornly.
"Harry, it's for the greater good."
"No." Harry could sense Yami's growing irritation with the Headmaster.
"When you are feeling better then." The Headmaster rose, "And I expect Yami to be gone by the end of the day."
"Good bye." Harry didn't feel slightly sorry as the Headmaster left, only deciding there and then to go after whatever was in his mind that shouldn't be… bar the Pharaoh now, rather then wait for tonight like they had planned. Joey rejoined them, as Harry dove into his soul room. "What was that headache about?"
"He ran into one of the barrier spells." Yami growled. "I had no idea he could do that."
Harry paused, "Do you think he's been in everyone else's minds?"
"I wish I could say no." Yami growled. "But I don't doubt he's at least tried."
"What did he mean 'for the greater good'?"
"There's obviously something important in your mind." Yami looked around. "Or he's being manipulative again. From a soul room a mind can be manipulated, changed even, and what happens in a Soul Room stays happened."
"So?" Harry didn't quite understand the implications.
"If he can get in here, he can change things about the way you think, or the way you feel, a Soul Room is the very essence of a soul, the personification of everything the person is, why do you think I've been as careful as I have to not disturb anything?"
The implications sank in. "Oh." He paused, "So what does adding a second bed to this room mean?"
"I don't know, but Yugi creates things in his soul room all the time and it doesn't seem to affect him."
"Perhaps it's just the things that appear from nowhere after a good or bad experience that matter." Harry guessed, indicating the Sword of Gryffindor on his bookcase.
Yami nodded, examining the shelving unit, having not actually noticed it before. Harry was surprisingly good at hiding parts of his Soul Room until he was ready to reveal them.
"So, finding that thing that was here before you got here, that shouldn't be here?" Harry asked.
Yami nodded, "Let's deal with it before Dumbledore comes back and demands that I leave."
"What're we looking for?" Harry asked.
"Something that doesn't belong here, an odd object or a strange door, or…" Yami paused, "Can I have full permission to enter your mind? I won't be able to help if you find it and it's still hidden from me." Yami pointed out, "It's not like I'm going to be coming back here once this is over after all."
Harry hesitated, then nodded and the room almost doubled in size, with several more candles lighting up.
"Wow, big."
"Not as big as yours I'd bet."
"Mine is impossible to navigate." Yami growled in self-irritation. "I can't find half the stuff I'm looking for sometimes."
"Is that why you forget things?" Harry teased.
"I don't…" Yami broke off and glared at him.
Harry laughed as he started looking around, "You're getting better, it seems like you're recovering some things on your own. You have more memories then you did when you first got here."
"True, but they don't really add up at the moment, there's too big a gap between them." Yami said, pausing as he came across a plushie of Gold Winged Wolf. "Harry?" He asked.
"Leave it." Harry growled at him, just knowing Yami would tease him about it.
Yami surprised him by not saying a word, but carrying on looking around.
Harry was near the back of the room when he came across the kind of thing he guessed they were looking for. A dark wooded door that felt like it had been here as long as Harry could remember, but didn't tie in with the rest of the room. "Yami…"
The pharaoh came over and frowned as he looked at the door, "How did we miss this?"
Harry reached for the door handle. "Should I?"
Yami nodded, and Harry opened the door. For a moment nothing happened, and then a wave of dark energy waved out through the door and knocked both boys backwards.
"What?" Harry asked, but Yami was already on his feet between Harry and the door.
"I thought something had to be attributing to the darkness in your room and this is it." Yami growled. "Show yourself, you don't belong here."
Harry watched in shock as the most grotesque toddler Harry had ever seen waddled out of the door, staring at both of them. He felt Yami's shadows weave around them in protection but didn't take his eyes off of the creature.
"Who and what are you to be invading the mind of one protected by the Gods of Egypt?" Yami growled, causing Harry to look at him in shock, did Yami realise what he had just said?
The toddler just turned and looked at the Pharaoh, whose shadows weaved around it, testing what it was, and then recoiled as if burnt, just as Yami had. "A soul fragment?" The Pharaoh looked horrified, "Not even a half like me and Yugi."
"A soul fragment?" Harry yelped. "A piece of mine?"
"No." On this Yami seemed completely certain. "You're not welcome inside this young one's mind, leave or I will make you."
"How?" The toddler laughed, "You're no more a part of his mind then I am."
Yami and Harry froze, looked at each other, recognising the tone, and then glared as one at the toddler, "You're a fragment of Voldemort's soul." Yami's tone was low and dangerous. Harry took two steps back, Pharaoh was pissed and you didn't interfere unless he was about to do something really stupid. "When did you make your home here?"
"I've been here longer then he's been protected by your shallow magicks, your highness." The soul fragment was sarcastic, "You can't get rid of me."
"Harry, I'd like your permission to rid your mind of this… this thing…" Yami snarled.
"I want him gone, go right ahead Yami."
"I challenge you." Yami snarled at the soul fragment, "To a Shadow Game."