Chapter 10: - Dementors and Anti-Dementor Lessons
"Alright guys, what did you do this ye… what's wrong?" Kari asked her grin dying as she looking around the almost empty Common Room on the day before term started, having finally escaped her parent's house. Hermione was being shunned by the rest of the group and was sat reading on the windowsill while the others were gathered around the fire.
"Kari! You're back early, the rest of the school aren't due to arrive till later on." Ombre said, smiling.
"Couldn't stand my parents any longer so I wrote to Dumbledore who allowed me to Floo here early." Kari frowned, "Draco was giving me an odd look as I came up the stairs though, but there was no sign of Bakura…" Yami's evil smirk returned. "Oh. Right. What did you do?"
"It should wear off sometime today. How was your Christmas?"
Joey gave an exasperated sigh, as Kari gave him an odd look, Yugi just shook his head, "He won't tell any of us."
Kari rolled her eyes, "It was a Christmas, Robyn had gone away again so I got stuck with my parents all Christmas. What about you guys? And why is Hermione sat all the way over there?"
"Harry got a Firebolt for Christmas." Ron stated with a glare at Hermione.
"Seriously?"
Harry nodded, as Ron continued, "But there wasn't a note or a letter or anything with it so it's been confiscated because Hermione told Professor McGonagall and she wants it stripped down." Kari looked over at her best friend who stared at her defiantly, her eyes asking if she was going to yell too.
"What if it was sent by Black?" Kari said finally, not missing the relief in Hermione's eyes that someone was on her side.
"Not you too!" Ron exclaimed exasperatedly.
"If Professor McGonagall wanted it stripped down, it had to be stripped down BUT…" Kari had to shout over the noise of her friend's outraged comments, "I've heard somewhere that professional Quidditch Players have their brooms stripped down before and after every game in case of tampering or cheating, so I doubt it'll do the broom any harm."
"But there's no guarantee Harry'll get it back before the next Quidditch match!"
"Sure, because a broomstick is so much more important then your friend's life, I thought you of all people would know better, Yugi Muto." Yugi looked away and Yami glared at her, she returned the glare with one of her own.
Their glaring contest was interrupted by Professor McGonagall who entered the Common Room with a glare of her own, aimed at Yami, who looked her in the eyes and suddenly tried to look innocent, "Mr Muto, Professor Snape has come to me complaining about an attack on one of his students, while they won't inform me of exactly what happened, you are named as the culprit."
"Professor! You can't blame him! Bakura was the one who put Yugi on the ceiling of the Great Hall! He started it!" Ron complained.
"Regardless of who started it, you, Yami Muto, are not supposed to retaliate in that fashion. I'm assigning you three weeks of Wednesday and Saturday detentions; you're to come to me at six o'clock each time. Understand?" Yami nodded, and she left.
"Totally worth it." Yami said with a slightly evil smirk, Yugi just sighed, but the argument from before was well and truly forgotten as they tried to get Yami to tell them what he'd done to Bakura.
Harry spoke to Wood later that night who said he'd speak to McGonagall about getting Harry's Firebolt back.
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Lessons started the next day. Hagrid provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their first lesson, and they spent an unusually good lesson collecting firewood to keep the blaze going. The Harry's first divination lesson of the new term was horrendous, Professor Trelawney was teaching palmistry and wasted no time in telling Harry he had the shortest life lines she'd ever seen. Harry looked forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Lupin promised to start his anti-Dementor lessons on Thursday Evening.
"He still looks ill." Ron said as they made their way down to dinner. "I wonder what's wrong?"
Hermione looked like she was about to say something but Kari gave her a look which clearly said "No, not now."
"What?" Ron asked.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked, ignoring the exasperated look she was getting from Kari who dragged her away from the group, Ombre following.
"They don't know." Ron said, glaring the way the girls had gone, "She's just trying to get the rest of us to talk to her again."
Yami wasn't so sure.
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At eight o'clock Thursday evening, Harry left Gryffindor Tower and arrived at the empty History of Magic classroom. The lamps were already lit and Harry pushed opened the door, wondering if Lupin was already here. He wasn't but there was someone else sat on a desk, someone Harry wouldn't have expected though it made sense if he thought about it, after all the boy was the only other person to have a fit around the Dementors.
Bakura was sat on a desk, glaring at him.
"What're you doing here?" Bakura demanded.
"Lessons with Lupin." Harry snapped back, Bakura just glared at him but didn't say anything as Professor Lupin entered the classroom.
"Are you both ready?" He asked as he heaved a large packing case onto Professor Binn's desk.
"What is that?" Harry asked, apprehensively.
"A Boggart." Said Lupin, slipping off his cloak, "It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. It will transform into a Dementor when it sees Harry, I'm not sure if this will work for you though Bakura." Bakura frowned. "The spell I'm about to try to teach you is highly advanced magic, boys, well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" Harry asked.
"When it works properly it conjured up a Patronus, which is kind of an Anti-Dementor… a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor." Bakura snorted, "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of all the things a Dementor feeds upon, hope, happiness, the desire to survive, but it cannot feel despair like humans can so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you both, that the charm may be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have trouble with it."
Bakura didn't look too happy as Harry asked, "What does a Patronus look like?"
"Each one is unique to the wizard that conjures it."
"How do you conjure it?" Bakura asked, if he was going to take extra lesson, especially with one of the Pharaoh's stupid group, he wanted it over and down with quickly.
"With an incantation that will only work if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, happy memory." Bakura scowled as Harry nodded. "If you'll move to the back of the room Bakura, and we'll let Harry go first." Bakura did so. A happy memory? What happy memories did he have left that hadn't been ruined?
"The incantation is this… Expectro Patronum." Harry and Bakura nodded, and Harry mumbled it under his breath, while Bakura tried to think of something, anything that would count as a happy memory had wasn't too painful or tainted. Something slivery shot out of Harry's wand that looked like a silver whisp of smoke.
"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly, "Something happened!"
"Very good," Said Lupin, smiling, "Ready to try it on a Dementor, boys?" Harry nodded, Bakura didn't look too certain. Lupin lifted the lid of the packing case. A Dementor rose slowly out of the box, its hooded face pointed towards Harry.
Bakura felt the Dementor's effects even with its attention turned to Harry, dragging him deep into memories he wished he could bury away, his family being slaughtered by the Pharaoh's guard, his mother, father, sister…
"Bakura!"
"Bakura!"
Bakura jerked out of it, he was led on the floor, Harry was just sitting up, "Are you alright?" Lupin asked. Bakura quickly got to his feet, "I'm fine." He snapped, snatching the offered chocolate frog. Harry was looking over at him, and Bakura glared back.
"Harry, if you'll step aside and let Bakura try." Harry nodded, looking frustrated and Lupin looked at Bakura as he stepped forward. "Are you ready for this?" Bakura just glared at Lupin. Lupin opened the chest again and the Boggart appeared again, but instead of a Dementor, it took the form of one of the Pharaoh's Guards. Bakura snarled, an old fear, one he thought he'd conquered, he quickly pulled out a dagger from underneath his robes. Harry flinched away but Lupin just looked at him, "Bakura, the repelling charm for a Boggart is Riddikulus, you have to try to make it amusing, it's defeated by laughter."
Bakura's black look became an evil smirk, "Riddikulus." He said with a smirk, the guard's head fell off, Bakura found this highly amusing and Harry had to wonder what the man had done to deserve that. As it was the Boggart retreated into the packing crate and Lupin closed the lid. He turned to Bakura with a look that Harry couldn't quite read, why had Bakura been afraid of an armed man?
Lupin looked over at Harry, then back at Bakura. "We're going to have to arrange for a different sort of lesson to teach you the Patronus, a Boggart isn't going to be much use in your training… Meet me tomorrow after class, I think I'll be able to get a substitute but it won't be as effective." Bakura nodded and left quietly, Harry and Lupin continued the lesson, trying the spell two more times before Lupin called it a night, Harry tried to get Lupin to talk about Black but Lupin had no intention of speaking about it. He felt drained as he crammed the last bit of chocolate into his mouth and headed back to the Common Room.
Yugi and Yami were sharing the sofa next to the fire, Yami was sat down with a book and Yugi leant into him, the hikari was fast asleep, Joey and Ombre were teaching Ron a few new tricks with his deck and Kari and Hermione were reading some books they'd gotten out of the library. "Hey Harry, how'd it go?" Kari asked, looking up from 'Ancient Cultures and Magical Artefacts.' Yugi opened his eyes and looked over at Harry.
"It went." Harry said with a sigh, "Bakura was there too, apparently he needs anti-Dementor lessons too."
"Bakura's trying to learn the Patronus charm?" Yami was surprised, "Why would he have trouble with the Dementors? Most of the evil in his life since we awoke has been his fault."
"Dunno, but he passed out when facing the Boggart-Dementor too, so whatever he remembers, it's got to be bad." Yami nodded, looking thoughtful.
"I suppose even an evil person like Bakura must have bad memories that they don't want to face."
"Bakura can't really be evil, Yami that's too much of a black and white version of the world." Yugi said, looking at his dark half with an odd look on his face.
"But he's caused nothing but trouble, he keeps trying to attack the gang, are you telling me you think there's something good in the Tomb Robber?"
"Just because someone doesn't like you, doesn't make them a bad person, Yami!"
Harry decided to back away towards their dorm, slowly and quietly, he needn't have bothered, as Yami and Yugi were glaring at each other too intently to remember Harry, or any of the others sat in the room, was there.
Joey frowned, Yugi and Yami almost never fought, and now they were picking fights over small things, he was tempted to poke his nose in to fid out the real problem…
Maybe later… When both Yugi and Yami had stopped glaring…
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Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was good news for Gryffindor, who would take second place if they beat Ravenclaw too. He therefore increased the amount of team practises to five times a week. This meant that between Lupin's anti-Dementor classes and Wood's practises, Harry only had one night to do his homework, and was glad of the help offered by Kari, whose mood swings seemed to have retreated to a Yami level instead of a Kaiba level.
Hermione though, seemed to be under even greater strain with her workload, every night, without fail, she was to be found in a corner of the Common Room, with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, and file upon file of extensive notes, she barely spoke to anyone, and snapped if she was disturbed.
"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Harry one evening, as Harry sat finishing an evil essay on Undetectable Poisons, for Snape. Harry looked up, Hermione was barely visible behind a teetering pile of books.
"Doing what?"
"Getting to all her classes, Yugi swears blind that she hasn't missed a single class that he's had without the rest of the gang, but she's always been in class with us at the same time!"
Harry wasn't really paying attention; he really needed to get on with the essay. However, five second later he was disturbed by Wood. "Bad news Harry, I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She – er- got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd gotten my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup then I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off as long as you caught the Snitch first…" Wood shook his head, "Honestly, the ways she was yelling at me, you'd've thought I'd said something terrible…" Harry could hear Kari's attempts at keeping her laughter muffled, she was failing miserably, "Then I asked her how long she'd be keeping it…" He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary Wood. I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom Harry, there's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick, you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."
"I'm not buying anything the Malfoys think are good." Said Harry flatly.
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It was Saturday morning and Yugi and Boh were sat outside, near the lake side closest to the Forbidden Forest.
The ground was soggy because of the snow, but Yugi didn't care, he was sat in a tree, on a thick branch, leant against the trunk, with his eyes closed. He needed time to go through things; going to Egypt hadn't made his parents disappearances go away like he'd hoped. They were still missing, and now to top it up, some unknown bad guy had the information on the Millennium Items.
Yugi wasn't sure he could deal with another evil plot on top of everything that had happened so far, and he wasn't just thinking about this school year.
Boh, who was sat on the branch below, watched him with a worried look in his eyes, Yugi, his friend, was still unhappy, Boh could sense it, he couldn't understand why no one else could.
Yugi sighed, Yami had the Millennium Puzzle still, so he had the chance to think without anyone prying into his mind, Boh would ask, unless it was urgent, Yami was there all the time, not that Yugi was complaining, he and Yami were two halves of the same whole, having Yami's thoughts and feelings in his head felt natural, but Yugi wanted to think things through without Yami acting as the voice of reason or unreason as the case might be.
Yugi, Boh said urgently, Yugi's eyes shot open, a boy with white hair was stood on the shore of his side of the lake, and looking in his direction. Yugi was suddenly glad that he was shielded from view by the tree's branches. The white haired boy went into the forest and Yugi got down, if that was Ryou, he shouldn't go into the forest alone, but if that was Bakura, he should keep an eye on him to check he wasn't up to something.
Yugi, you shouldn't go in there, it's past the boundaries of the school.
"I know, but one way or the other, no one should go in there alone. Wait here and cover for me, I'll call if I need you." Yugi followed the boy in, keeping out of sight. He followed him to a clearing in the woods, where the boy stopped and looked around, as creatures came out of the woodwork. Yugi climbed up into a tree to avoid detection, but carried on watching.
The boy was talking to the beasts, and it didn't look like what ever they were talking about was good.
The boy was moving into the centre of the clearing when it went cold, Yugi gasped as he recognised the feeling and the beasts fled as Dementors swooped in. The white haired boy froze and Yugi pulled his wand out of his pocket, climbing down quickly as the Dementors launched an attack on the boy, causing the boy to collapse to his knees as they sucked away all the good memories.
Yugi rushed over, "BOH!" He mentally yelled, then "Everte Statum!" He shouted pointing his wand at a Dementor, Yugi wasn't surprised to see it was Bakura, he may not like the Tomb Robber, but no one deserved the fate the Dementors would give out, and he didn't have time to think about it as the group of Dementors turned their attention away from Bakura. Yugi blanched, "Everte Statum! Everte Statum! Everte Statum!" Yugi shouted desperately.
The boy on the ground was getting up slowly, but it didn't matter, Yugi's vision was growing dark, "Stay with me, runt," Bakura snarled, "Or I'll never get us out of here." The two backed up slowly, but found themselves surrounded. Bakura growled as the Pharaoh's runt nearly collapsed again, "Muto!"
"I know, I know." Yugi growled.
Bakura looked at him, why hadn't he thought things through? The Dementors fed on happiness and hope, and the runt had almost boundless quantities of those. Almost boundless, they were failing now. If they could do this to the Pharaoh's runt what could they do to…? "Why the hell did the Pharaoh let you out here in the first place?"
"Doesn't know I'm out here! Everte Statum!" Yugi yelled the second part, then collapsed to his knees, Bakura watched him go white, "E… Everte… Evert…Ever..." Yugi's voice drew to a whisper, then he passed out, slumping on the spot.
Bakura pulled out his wand, trying to think of any happy memory he could use, "Expectro Patronum!" Bakura shouted desperately, but his wand didn't respond, "Expectro Patronum!" He tried again.
Then, with a growl, Bakura reached for his deck, but it was unnecessary as red lightening rained down from the sky, followed by fire and magic as the three grown silver dragons, Emerald Dragon, Red Eyes Darkness and Red Eyes Black, swooped down out of the sky and fought off the Dementors, the fuzzball, and the two magicians came from the trees, the Dark Magician placed himself between Yugi and the Dementors who were fleeing the assault, while the Dark Magician Girl stood with her back to the battle, glaring at Bakura, she looked like she was going to demand something.
Dark Necrofear appeared out of nowhere, firing dark energy towards the Dementors before grabbing Bakura, and then moved into a darker shadow and vanished. Mana sighed as she turned towards the battle, the dragons swooping and wheeling around, then making a tactical retreat back to the castle as the Dementors returned in strength, Mahado easily lifted Yugi's small frame up and Mana grabbed Boh, who was nearly toppling over and she raced after Mahado, only feeling safe once they'd reached the Monster's Wing, where Mahado led Yugi down on his bed, since Boh's was too small, with four words, "I'll use the sofa."
"Shouldn't we take him to the infirmary?" Mana asked, concern written all over her face. Mahado sighed as Mana looked up at him, her face pale.
Unknown to them in every room of the wing, (even one that had been long unused but held in reserve) both on this floor and the in extension that had been opened to house the Purple Eyes Silver Dragons, mentally and physically drained Duel Monsters were collapsing onto beds and nests, facing the Dementors had been difficult for all of them.
"After that fight this morning there's no space in the Infirmary."
"What started it?"
"I'm not sure, Minneola was on duty." Mahado growled softly, he turned on Boh, who was still unsteady on his feet, "What was Yugi doing out there, and with Bakura?" He demanded. Boh wouldn't look at him, "Why didn't you tell us sooner that Yugi was going into the forest?"
"He told me to cover for him," Boh squeaked, "We didn't know if it was Ryou or Bakura so Yugi followed him." Mana rested a hand on Boh, the fuzzball was shaking, she could sense fear, and anger, "And how was I supposed to know who to call?" Boh demanded, Mahado looked at him in shock, it was unusual for the Kuriboh to shout or show anger towards others, "Yugi and the Pharaoh are barely speaking at the moment, calling you will cause another argument between them and when they fight, Yugi feels worse! And it's not like I'm going to call any of the dragons, not when the Pharaoh would Shadow Realm me in a moment for even suggesting they could protect Yugi as well as, or better then, him."
"Why haven't you…" Mahado didn't get to finish his question as Joey and the Pharaoh rushed into the Monster's Wing, fear easy to sense. In here, my Pharaoh. Mahado called, they walked in. The Pharaoh's face was ash white. He sat down on the bed, next to Yugi and looked up at Mahado, while Joey leant on the door frame.
"What happened?" Joey asked, anger growing, Mahado could see it in his eyes. Boh was cowering behind Mana.
"Yugi was attacked." Mana said, her voice oddly clipped, Yami glared at her.
"You're hiding something from us. What happened?" Yami demanded, his voice revealing just how little control he had on his temper right then.
"Yugi had a run in with the Dementors, he was unconscious when we reached him." Mahado explained, watching the Pharaoh carefully, he couldn't allow him to send anymore Dementors to the Shadow Realm.
"The Dementors shouldn't enter school… where're you going?" Joey asked as Yami stood up and almost stormed out of the room.
"I'm going to send every last Dementor to the Shadow Realm." Yami snarled, at which point Joey grabbed him. "Get off of me." Yami snapped, Joey shook his head.
"While I like that idea, you didn't see the repercussions last time you pulled that stunt." Joey replied, "I did. You nearly collapsed, Ombre and the hikaris were ill for days and…"
"A lot of us Duel Monsters nearly faded away, Pharaoh." Mana stated, "The Dementors feed off the shadows, they don't get imprisoned in the Shadow Realm, merely trapped. They continue to feed off of those connected to the Shadows, weakening us."
Yami stopped trying to push Joey off, and looked at Mana, guilt in his eyes. "I…"
"You didn't know and you weren't exactly yourself, my Pharaoh." Mahado spoke, choosing his words carefully, "Mana and myself did our best to isolate the Dementors who are trapped there, from the rest of those connected to the Shadows but…"
Joey warily let go of Yami, as he looked thoughtful, though still angry, "I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey." Joey said, watching Yami carefully, "Are you going to stay with Yugi?" Yami nodded, and Joey left the room. Yami sat down on the bed, holding Yugi's hand, it was cold. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, then looked up at the Dark Magician.
"Mahado, I…" Yami shook his head, "I should have thought before I…" Yami couldn't complete his sentence, and they waited in awkward silence.
"My Pharaoh…" Mahado was cut off as Joey and Madam Pomfrey rushed back in.
"Mr Wheeler said he had a run in with the Dementors?" Mahado nodded, Madam Pomfrey shooed Yami off the bed and checked Yugi over, a frown on her face. "He'll be fine, you got him away in time. Just give him time to recover. Is there anyone else I should check over?" She asked, a mixture of concern and annoyance in her voice, Mahado nearly shook his head but a shadow passed over the doorway.
"Bakura Malfoy was attacked by the Dementors, I doubt he'll come in for a check up but…" Mahado looked up as Dark Necrofear hovered in his doorway. "Ma'am, if you would look at Bakura after Yugi, I at least would be greatful."
Yami's look turned to one of thunder and lightening, Madam Pomfrey nodded and the Fiend retreated to his room. Madam Pomfrey passed Yami a bar of chocolate, "Make sure he eats this when he comes round." She said as she left the room.
Yami slammed the bar down on the tableside table, "BAKURA!" He roared, then looked at Yugi and stormed out into the Monster's Common Room, Mahado looked at Mana, then followed him out, shutting the door behind him, "He was out there with Bakura?" They could hear Yami demanding at full volume, "What the hell was he doing in the Forbidden Forest with Bakura?"
"Boh?" The Kuriboh nearly jumped, as Yugi spoke to him over their link. "Don't react. That's Yami shouting isn't it?"
Yes, he's shouting at Mahado. Boh said, looking over the boy, who was led still, if Boh didn't know better, he'd've said Yugi was still unconscious. He found out about Bakura.
"Uh oh."
How are you feeling?
"YUGI!" Yami bellowed.
"How did he know?" Yugi opened his eyes, and looked around the room, his head spinning, for a few moments, as he sat up.
"YUGI!" Yugi got off of the bed, and stood up, wavering slightly.
"Yuge?" Joey asked, concerned.
"Yami's bellowing…" Yugi nearly fell over and Joey caught him before he hit the ground.
"Yugi..." Joey looked at him, and shook his head, sighing, "At least take the chocolate." Yugi grabbed the chocolate off the side, and took a bite, before attempting to take his weight off of Joey. "No," Joey said, "I'll give you a hand, he shouldn't expect you to go out there. He was told to give you time to rest."
"By who?"
"Madam Pomfrey." Yugi grimaced, Joey saw it and took it as sign he was still suffering from the effects of the Dementors, "That's it, if he wants to yell, he can yell in here."
"Joey…"
"No. Yuge." Joey said, making him sit back down, he opened the door and it closed swiftly behind him, Yugi could hear Yami and Joey yelling at each other, then the door slammed open and Yami stood, glaring at him.
"Why?" It was a simple question, but there was so much anger in it that Yugi flinched and looked away.
"I just wanted some time to think, and there was too much atmosphere to think straight in the Common Room."
"So you went into the Forbidden Forest? And with Bakura of all people!"
"I didn't start off there! I was sat in one of the trees by the lake!" The volume of Yugi's voice was rising, as he turned back to Yami, glaring, "I saw someone with white hair go into the forest! It could've been Ryou for all I knew!"
"So why go in alone?" Yami demanded, "Why didn't you call for back up?"
Yugi just stared at him, "You don't trust that I can handle things on my own." It was a statement rather then a question, one that Yami flinched away from. Yugi pushed himself to his feet and spat out the words, "You're still treating me like I'm fourteen years old!"
"Then stop acting like it and think before you act!" Yami snarled back, his glare matching Yugi's.
"I'm not a child anymore!" Yugi snapped, "What was I supposed to do? Stand around and wait for everyone to arrive?"
"You should've waited for me."
"By then it would've been too late!" Yugi snarled, "It doesn't matter if it was Bakura out there or Ryou, no one deserves to have their soul eaten!"
"Bakura doesn't care! How many times has he tried to send us to the Shadow Realm? He didn't care when he caused Kari's miscarriage!"
"You're wrong there." Yugi's cold voice pierced Yami's hot rage, "He didn't take the Orb when he could've, he, if you stop to think before you open your mouth, was the one who was most disgusted at his actions."
Yami's temper flared, and fear flashed in Yugi's eyes as unrestrained Shadow Magic, released by Yami's anger, lashed towards him. Yami's eyes widened, but he couldn't call it back. Yugi hit the wall, and slid down it with a groan, the look in his eyes, when he finally opened them, was one of sorrow and bewilderment.
Yami froze, Yugi wasn't aware it hadn't been deliberate…
Someone behind Yami grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the room, Mahado, Joey, Mana, everyone… they were all glaring at him…
"What the hell has gotten into you?" Joey demanded.
"I think you should leave…" Mahado said, anger in his eyes, if not in his voice.
"Anyone who attacks their friends are not welcome here." Someone snarled; Yami wasn't sure who.
"I didn't mean too… I just lost my temper…" Yami started to say.
"Get out!" Kisara screamed at him, preparing to attack.
Mahado, refused to look at him, and turned away.
Yami left.
What had he been thinking?
What had he done?
He ran, trying to get away from his guilt and his anger, and the memory of Yugi looking completely shocked by his actions.
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February arrived, with no change in the cold.
Neither in the weather…
Or Yugi's attitude towards Yami.
Professor McGonagall still hadn't given Harry back his broomstick, and his Anti-Dementor classes weren't going too well.
He was just finishing a session with Lupin, when the Professor had asked him an interesting question, did Black deserve to have his soul eaten by the Dementors?
Harry had initially thought yes, but remembering what Yugi and the others had said about souls being sent to, or trapped in the Shadow Realm, he'd wondered, did anyone really deserve that fate?
Yugi obviously didn't think so, or he wouldn't have gone into the Forest to help Bakura, even though they were enemies.
Harry bumped into Professor McGonagall as he headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, "I've just been looking for you in the Gryffindor Common Room," She said, "Well, here it is, we've done everything we could think off, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all… you've got a very good friend out there somewhere, Potter." Harry's jaw dropped, she was holding out his Firebolt, and it looked as magnificent as ever.
"I can have it back?" Harry asked, "Seriously?"
"Seriously." Professor McGonagall proceeded to recommend that Harry got to practise on it before Saturday's game, and allowed him to rush up to the Common Room, letting Neville in as he passed, the boy had lost the sheet with all the passwords written down, and he showed off the Firebolt to the entire Gryffindor Quidditch Team, minus Yugi, who'd been sleeping in the Monster's Wing every night since the fight.
Having taken it upstairs, Harry came back down and decided to start being nicer to Hermione, who was working on homework with Kari, which was disrupted by a strangled yell that echoed down the boy's staircase. The whole Common Room fell silent, staring petrified at the entrance. Then Ron came into view, dragging with him a bedsheet.
"LOOK!" He bellowed, striding over to Hermione and Kari's table, "LOOK!" He yelled, waving the bed sheet under their noses.
"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Kari asked calmly.
"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"
Hermione and Kari looked completely bewildered, Harry looked on the sheet, there was something red on it, something that looked horribly like…
"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence, "HE'S GONE! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"
"N-no." Hermione said, her voice trembling. Kari had a horrible feeling she knew.
Ron threw down something onto Hermione's homework. They, and Harry looked at it. Lying on top of the homework, were three long, ginger cat hairs, four short, smoky coloured cat hairs, and two long black cat hairs…
"Kari! You're back early, the rest of the school aren't due to arrive till later on." Ombre said, smiling.
"Couldn't stand my parents any longer so I wrote to Dumbledore who allowed me to Floo here early." Kari frowned, "Draco was giving me an odd look as I came up the stairs though, but there was no sign of Bakura…" Yami's evil smirk returned. "Oh. Right. What did you do?"
"It should wear off sometime today. How was your Christmas?"
Joey gave an exasperated sigh, as Kari gave him an odd look, Yugi just shook his head, "He won't tell any of us."
Kari rolled her eyes, "It was a Christmas, Robyn had gone away again so I got stuck with my parents all Christmas. What about you guys? And why is Hermione sat all the way over there?"
"Harry got a Firebolt for Christmas." Ron stated with a glare at Hermione.
"Seriously?"
Harry nodded, as Ron continued, "But there wasn't a note or a letter or anything with it so it's been confiscated because Hermione told Professor McGonagall and she wants it stripped down." Kari looked over at her best friend who stared at her defiantly, her eyes asking if she was going to yell too.
"What if it was sent by Black?" Kari said finally, not missing the relief in Hermione's eyes that someone was on her side.
"Not you too!" Ron exclaimed exasperatedly.
"If Professor McGonagall wanted it stripped down, it had to be stripped down BUT…" Kari had to shout over the noise of her friend's outraged comments, "I've heard somewhere that professional Quidditch Players have their brooms stripped down before and after every game in case of tampering or cheating, so I doubt it'll do the broom any harm."
"But there's no guarantee Harry'll get it back before the next Quidditch match!"
"Sure, because a broomstick is so much more important then your friend's life, I thought you of all people would know better, Yugi Muto." Yugi looked away and Yami glared at her, she returned the glare with one of her own.
Their glaring contest was interrupted by Professor McGonagall who entered the Common Room with a glare of her own, aimed at Yami, who looked her in the eyes and suddenly tried to look innocent, "Mr Muto, Professor Snape has come to me complaining about an attack on one of his students, while they won't inform me of exactly what happened, you are named as the culprit."
"Professor! You can't blame him! Bakura was the one who put Yugi on the ceiling of the Great Hall! He started it!" Ron complained.
"Regardless of who started it, you, Yami Muto, are not supposed to retaliate in that fashion. I'm assigning you three weeks of Wednesday and Saturday detentions; you're to come to me at six o'clock each time. Understand?" Yami nodded, and she left.
"Totally worth it." Yami said with a slightly evil smirk, Yugi just sighed, but the argument from before was well and truly forgotten as they tried to get Yami to tell them what he'd done to Bakura.
Harry spoke to Wood later that night who said he'd speak to McGonagall about getting Harry's Firebolt back.
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Lessons started the next day. Hagrid provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their first lesson, and they spent an unusually good lesson collecting firewood to keep the blaze going. The Harry's first divination lesson of the new term was horrendous, Professor Trelawney was teaching palmistry and wasted no time in telling Harry he had the shortest life lines she'd ever seen. Harry looked forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Lupin promised to start his anti-Dementor lessons on Thursday Evening.
"He still looks ill." Ron said as they made their way down to dinner. "I wonder what's wrong?"
Hermione looked like she was about to say something but Kari gave her a look which clearly said "No, not now."
"What?" Ron asked.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked, ignoring the exasperated look she was getting from Kari who dragged her away from the group, Ombre following.
"They don't know." Ron said, glaring the way the girls had gone, "She's just trying to get the rest of us to talk to her again."
Yami wasn't so sure.
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At eight o'clock Thursday evening, Harry left Gryffindor Tower and arrived at the empty History of Magic classroom. The lamps were already lit and Harry pushed opened the door, wondering if Lupin was already here. He wasn't but there was someone else sat on a desk, someone Harry wouldn't have expected though it made sense if he thought about it, after all the boy was the only other person to have a fit around the Dementors.
Bakura was sat on a desk, glaring at him.
"What're you doing here?" Bakura demanded.
"Lessons with Lupin." Harry snapped back, Bakura just glared at him but didn't say anything as Professor Lupin entered the classroom.
"Are you both ready?" He asked as he heaved a large packing case onto Professor Binn's desk.
"What is that?" Harry asked, apprehensively.
"A Boggart." Said Lupin, slipping off his cloak, "It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. It will transform into a Dementor when it sees Harry, I'm not sure if this will work for you though Bakura." Bakura frowned. "The spell I'm about to try to teach you is highly advanced magic, boys, well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" Harry asked.
"When it works properly it conjured up a Patronus, which is kind of an Anti-Dementor… a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor." Bakura snorted, "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of all the things a Dementor feeds upon, hope, happiness, the desire to survive, but it cannot feel despair like humans can so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you both, that the charm may be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have trouble with it."
Bakura didn't look too happy as Harry asked, "What does a Patronus look like?"
"Each one is unique to the wizard that conjures it."
"How do you conjure it?" Bakura asked, if he was going to take extra lesson, especially with one of the Pharaoh's stupid group, he wanted it over and down with quickly.
"With an incantation that will only work if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, happy memory." Bakura scowled as Harry nodded. "If you'll move to the back of the room Bakura, and we'll let Harry go first." Bakura did so. A happy memory? What happy memories did he have left that hadn't been ruined?
"The incantation is this… Expectro Patronum." Harry and Bakura nodded, and Harry mumbled it under his breath, while Bakura tried to think of something, anything that would count as a happy memory had wasn't too painful or tainted. Something slivery shot out of Harry's wand that looked like a silver whisp of smoke.
"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly, "Something happened!"
"Very good," Said Lupin, smiling, "Ready to try it on a Dementor, boys?" Harry nodded, Bakura didn't look too certain. Lupin lifted the lid of the packing case. A Dementor rose slowly out of the box, its hooded face pointed towards Harry.
Bakura felt the Dementor's effects even with its attention turned to Harry, dragging him deep into memories he wished he could bury away, his family being slaughtered by the Pharaoh's guard, his mother, father, sister…
"Bakura!"
"Bakura!"
Bakura jerked out of it, he was led on the floor, Harry was just sitting up, "Are you alright?" Lupin asked. Bakura quickly got to his feet, "I'm fine." He snapped, snatching the offered chocolate frog. Harry was looking over at him, and Bakura glared back.
"Harry, if you'll step aside and let Bakura try." Harry nodded, looking frustrated and Lupin looked at Bakura as he stepped forward. "Are you ready for this?" Bakura just glared at Lupin. Lupin opened the chest again and the Boggart appeared again, but instead of a Dementor, it took the form of one of the Pharaoh's Guards. Bakura snarled, an old fear, one he thought he'd conquered, he quickly pulled out a dagger from underneath his robes. Harry flinched away but Lupin just looked at him, "Bakura, the repelling charm for a Boggart is Riddikulus, you have to try to make it amusing, it's defeated by laughter."
Bakura's black look became an evil smirk, "Riddikulus." He said with a smirk, the guard's head fell off, Bakura found this highly amusing and Harry had to wonder what the man had done to deserve that. As it was the Boggart retreated into the packing crate and Lupin closed the lid. He turned to Bakura with a look that Harry couldn't quite read, why had Bakura been afraid of an armed man?
Lupin looked over at Harry, then back at Bakura. "We're going to have to arrange for a different sort of lesson to teach you the Patronus, a Boggart isn't going to be much use in your training… Meet me tomorrow after class, I think I'll be able to get a substitute but it won't be as effective." Bakura nodded and left quietly, Harry and Lupin continued the lesson, trying the spell two more times before Lupin called it a night, Harry tried to get Lupin to talk about Black but Lupin had no intention of speaking about it. He felt drained as he crammed the last bit of chocolate into his mouth and headed back to the Common Room.
Yugi and Yami were sharing the sofa next to the fire, Yami was sat down with a book and Yugi leant into him, the hikari was fast asleep, Joey and Ombre were teaching Ron a few new tricks with his deck and Kari and Hermione were reading some books they'd gotten out of the library. "Hey Harry, how'd it go?" Kari asked, looking up from 'Ancient Cultures and Magical Artefacts.' Yugi opened his eyes and looked over at Harry.
"It went." Harry said with a sigh, "Bakura was there too, apparently he needs anti-Dementor lessons too."
"Bakura's trying to learn the Patronus charm?" Yami was surprised, "Why would he have trouble with the Dementors? Most of the evil in his life since we awoke has been his fault."
"Dunno, but he passed out when facing the Boggart-Dementor too, so whatever he remembers, it's got to be bad." Yami nodded, looking thoughtful.
"I suppose even an evil person like Bakura must have bad memories that they don't want to face."
"Bakura can't really be evil, Yami that's too much of a black and white version of the world." Yugi said, looking at his dark half with an odd look on his face.
"But he's caused nothing but trouble, he keeps trying to attack the gang, are you telling me you think there's something good in the Tomb Robber?"
"Just because someone doesn't like you, doesn't make them a bad person, Yami!"
Harry decided to back away towards their dorm, slowly and quietly, he needn't have bothered, as Yami and Yugi were glaring at each other too intently to remember Harry, or any of the others sat in the room, was there.
Joey frowned, Yugi and Yami almost never fought, and now they were picking fights over small things, he was tempted to poke his nose in to fid out the real problem…
Maybe later… When both Yugi and Yami had stopped glaring…
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Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was good news for Gryffindor, who would take second place if they beat Ravenclaw too. He therefore increased the amount of team practises to five times a week. This meant that between Lupin's anti-Dementor classes and Wood's practises, Harry only had one night to do his homework, and was glad of the help offered by Kari, whose mood swings seemed to have retreated to a Yami level instead of a Kaiba level.
Hermione though, seemed to be under even greater strain with her workload, every night, without fail, she was to be found in a corner of the Common Room, with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, and file upon file of extensive notes, she barely spoke to anyone, and snapped if she was disturbed.
"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Harry one evening, as Harry sat finishing an evil essay on Undetectable Poisons, for Snape. Harry looked up, Hermione was barely visible behind a teetering pile of books.
"Doing what?"
"Getting to all her classes, Yugi swears blind that she hasn't missed a single class that he's had without the rest of the gang, but she's always been in class with us at the same time!"
Harry wasn't really paying attention; he really needed to get on with the essay. However, five second later he was disturbed by Wood. "Bad news Harry, I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She – er- got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd gotten my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup then I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off as long as you caught the Snitch first…" Wood shook his head, "Honestly, the ways she was yelling at me, you'd've thought I'd said something terrible…" Harry could hear Kari's attempts at keeping her laughter muffled, she was failing miserably, "Then I asked her how long she'd be keeping it…" He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary Wood. I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom Harry, there's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick, you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."
"I'm not buying anything the Malfoys think are good." Said Harry flatly.
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It was Saturday morning and Yugi and Boh were sat outside, near the lake side closest to the Forbidden Forest.
The ground was soggy because of the snow, but Yugi didn't care, he was sat in a tree, on a thick branch, leant against the trunk, with his eyes closed. He needed time to go through things; going to Egypt hadn't made his parents disappearances go away like he'd hoped. They were still missing, and now to top it up, some unknown bad guy had the information on the Millennium Items.
Yugi wasn't sure he could deal with another evil plot on top of everything that had happened so far, and he wasn't just thinking about this school year.
Boh, who was sat on the branch below, watched him with a worried look in his eyes, Yugi, his friend, was still unhappy, Boh could sense it, he couldn't understand why no one else could.
Yugi sighed, Yami had the Millennium Puzzle still, so he had the chance to think without anyone prying into his mind, Boh would ask, unless it was urgent, Yami was there all the time, not that Yugi was complaining, he and Yami were two halves of the same whole, having Yami's thoughts and feelings in his head felt natural, but Yugi wanted to think things through without Yami acting as the voice of reason or unreason as the case might be.
Yugi, Boh said urgently, Yugi's eyes shot open, a boy with white hair was stood on the shore of his side of the lake, and looking in his direction. Yugi was suddenly glad that he was shielded from view by the tree's branches. The white haired boy went into the forest and Yugi got down, if that was Ryou, he shouldn't go into the forest alone, but if that was Bakura, he should keep an eye on him to check he wasn't up to something.
Yugi, you shouldn't go in there, it's past the boundaries of the school.
"I know, but one way or the other, no one should go in there alone. Wait here and cover for me, I'll call if I need you." Yugi followed the boy in, keeping out of sight. He followed him to a clearing in the woods, where the boy stopped and looked around, as creatures came out of the woodwork. Yugi climbed up into a tree to avoid detection, but carried on watching.
The boy was talking to the beasts, and it didn't look like what ever they were talking about was good.
The boy was moving into the centre of the clearing when it went cold, Yugi gasped as he recognised the feeling and the beasts fled as Dementors swooped in. The white haired boy froze and Yugi pulled his wand out of his pocket, climbing down quickly as the Dementors launched an attack on the boy, causing the boy to collapse to his knees as they sucked away all the good memories.
Yugi rushed over, "BOH!" He mentally yelled, then "Everte Statum!" He shouted pointing his wand at a Dementor, Yugi wasn't surprised to see it was Bakura, he may not like the Tomb Robber, but no one deserved the fate the Dementors would give out, and he didn't have time to think about it as the group of Dementors turned their attention away from Bakura. Yugi blanched, "Everte Statum! Everte Statum! Everte Statum!" Yugi shouted desperately.
The boy on the ground was getting up slowly, but it didn't matter, Yugi's vision was growing dark, "Stay with me, runt," Bakura snarled, "Or I'll never get us out of here." The two backed up slowly, but found themselves surrounded. Bakura growled as the Pharaoh's runt nearly collapsed again, "Muto!"
"I know, I know." Yugi growled.
Bakura looked at him, why hadn't he thought things through? The Dementors fed on happiness and hope, and the runt had almost boundless quantities of those. Almost boundless, they were failing now. If they could do this to the Pharaoh's runt what could they do to…? "Why the hell did the Pharaoh let you out here in the first place?"
"Doesn't know I'm out here! Everte Statum!" Yugi yelled the second part, then collapsed to his knees, Bakura watched him go white, "E… Everte… Evert…Ever..." Yugi's voice drew to a whisper, then he passed out, slumping on the spot.
Bakura pulled out his wand, trying to think of any happy memory he could use, "Expectro Patronum!" Bakura shouted desperately, but his wand didn't respond, "Expectro Patronum!" He tried again.
Then, with a growl, Bakura reached for his deck, but it was unnecessary as red lightening rained down from the sky, followed by fire and magic as the three grown silver dragons, Emerald Dragon, Red Eyes Darkness and Red Eyes Black, swooped down out of the sky and fought off the Dementors, the fuzzball, and the two magicians came from the trees, the Dark Magician placed himself between Yugi and the Dementors who were fleeing the assault, while the Dark Magician Girl stood with her back to the battle, glaring at Bakura, she looked like she was going to demand something.
Dark Necrofear appeared out of nowhere, firing dark energy towards the Dementors before grabbing Bakura, and then moved into a darker shadow and vanished. Mana sighed as she turned towards the battle, the dragons swooping and wheeling around, then making a tactical retreat back to the castle as the Dementors returned in strength, Mahado easily lifted Yugi's small frame up and Mana grabbed Boh, who was nearly toppling over and she raced after Mahado, only feeling safe once they'd reached the Monster's Wing, where Mahado led Yugi down on his bed, since Boh's was too small, with four words, "I'll use the sofa."
"Shouldn't we take him to the infirmary?" Mana asked, concern written all over her face. Mahado sighed as Mana looked up at him, her face pale.
Unknown to them in every room of the wing, (even one that had been long unused but held in reserve) both on this floor and the in extension that had been opened to house the Purple Eyes Silver Dragons, mentally and physically drained Duel Monsters were collapsing onto beds and nests, facing the Dementors had been difficult for all of them.
"After that fight this morning there's no space in the Infirmary."
"What started it?"
"I'm not sure, Minneola was on duty." Mahado growled softly, he turned on Boh, who was still unsteady on his feet, "What was Yugi doing out there, and with Bakura?" He demanded. Boh wouldn't look at him, "Why didn't you tell us sooner that Yugi was going into the forest?"
"He told me to cover for him," Boh squeaked, "We didn't know if it was Ryou or Bakura so Yugi followed him." Mana rested a hand on Boh, the fuzzball was shaking, she could sense fear, and anger, "And how was I supposed to know who to call?" Boh demanded, Mahado looked at him in shock, it was unusual for the Kuriboh to shout or show anger towards others, "Yugi and the Pharaoh are barely speaking at the moment, calling you will cause another argument between them and when they fight, Yugi feels worse! And it's not like I'm going to call any of the dragons, not when the Pharaoh would Shadow Realm me in a moment for even suggesting they could protect Yugi as well as, or better then, him."
"Why haven't you…" Mahado didn't get to finish his question as Joey and the Pharaoh rushed into the Monster's Wing, fear easy to sense. In here, my Pharaoh. Mahado called, they walked in. The Pharaoh's face was ash white. He sat down on the bed, next to Yugi and looked up at Mahado, while Joey leant on the door frame.
"What happened?" Joey asked, anger growing, Mahado could see it in his eyes. Boh was cowering behind Mana.
"Yugi was attacked." Mana said, her voice oddly clipped, Yami glared at her.
"You're hiding something from us. What happened?" Yami demanded, his voice revealing just how little control he had on his temper right then.
"Yugi had a run in with the Dementors, he was unconscious when we reached him." Mahado explained, watching the Pharaoh carefully, he couldn't allow him to send anymore Dementors to the Shadow Realm.
"The Dementors shouldn't enter school… where're you going?" Joey asked as Yami stood up and almost stormed out of the room.
"I'm going to send every last Dementor to the Shadow Realm." Yami snarled, at which point Joey grabbed him. "Get off of me." Yami snapped, Joey shook his head.
"While I like that idea, you didn't see the repercussions last time you pulled that stunt." Joey replied, "I did. You nearly collapsed, Ombre and the hikaris were ill for days and…"
"A lot of us Duel Monsters nearly faded away, Pharaoh." Mana stated, "The Dementors feed off the shadows, they don't get imprisoned in the Shadow Realm, merely trapped. They continue to feed off of those connected to the Shadows, weakening us."
Yami stopped trying to push Joey off, and looked at Mana, guilt in his eyes. "I…"
"You didn't know and you weren't exactly yourself, my Pharaoh." Mahado spoke, choosing his words carefully, "Mana and myself did our best to isolate the Dementors who are trapped there, from the rest of those connected to the Shadows but…"
Joey warily let go of Yami, as he looked thoughtful, though still angry, "I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey." Joey said, watching Yami carefully, "Are you going to stay with Yugi?" Yami nodded, and Joey left the room. Yami sat down on the bed, holding Yugi's hand, it was cold. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, then looked up at the Dark Magician.
"Mahado, I…" Yami shook his head, "I should have thought before I…" Yami couldn't complete his sentence, and they waited in awkward silence.
"My Pharaoh…" Mahado was cut off as Joey and Madam Pomfrey rushed back in.
"Mr Wheeler said he had a run in with the Dementors?" Mahado nodded, Madam Pomfrey shooed Yami off the bed and checked Yugi over, a frown on her face. "He'll be fine, you got him away in time. Just give him time to recover. Is there anyone else I should check over?" She asked, a mixture of concern and annoyance in her voice, Mahado nearly shook his head but a shadow passed over the doorway.
"Bakura Malfoy was attacked by the Dementors, I doubt he'll come in for a check up but…" Mahado looked up as Dark Necrofear hovered in his doorway. "Ma'am, if you would look at Bakura after Yugi, I at least would be greatful."
Yami's look turned to one of thunder and lightening, Madam Pomfrey nodded and the Fiend retreated to his room. Madam Pomfrey passed Yami a bar of chocolate, "Make sure he eats this when he comes round." She said as she left the room.
Yami slammed the bar down on the tableside table, "BAKURA!" He roared, then looked at Yugi and stormed out into the Monster's Common Room, Mahado looked at Mana, then followed him out, shutting the door behind him, "He was out there with Bakura?" They could hear Yami demanding at full volume, "What the hell was he doing in the Forbidden Forest with Bakura?"
"Boh?" The Kuriboh nearly jumped, as Yugi spoke to him over their link. "Don't react. That's Yami shouting isn't it?"
Yes, he's shouting at Mahado. Boh said, looking over the boy, who was led still, if Boh didn't know better, he'd've said Yugi was still unconscious. He found out about Bakura.
"Uh oh."
How are you feeling?
"YUGI!" Yami bellowed.
"How did he know?" Yugi opened his eyes, and looked around the room, his head spinning, for a few moments, as he sat up.
"YUGI!" Yugi got off of the bed, and stood up, wavering slightly.
"Yuge?" Joey asked, concerned.
"Yami's bellowing…" Yugi nearly fell over and Joey caught him before he hit the ground.
"Yugi..." Joey looked at him, and shook his head, sighing, "At least take the chocolate." Yugi grabbed the chocolate off the side, and took a bite, before attempting to take his weight off of Joey. "No," Joey said, "I'll give you a hand, he shouldn't expect you to go out there. He was told to give you time to rest."
"By who?"
"Madam Pomfrey." Yugi grimaced, Joey saw it and took it as sign he was still suffering from the effects of the Dementors, "That's it, if he wants to yell, he can yell in here."
"Joey…"
"No. Yuge." Joey said, making him sit back down, he opened the door and it closed swiftly behind him, Yugi could hear Yami and Joey yelling at each other, then the door slammed open and Yami stood, glaring at him.
"Why?" It was a simple question, but there was so much anger in it that Yugi flinched and looked away.
"I just wanted some time to think, and there was too much atmosphere to think straight in the Common Room."
"So you went into the Forbidden Forest? And with Bakura of all people!"
"I didn't start off there! I was sat in one of the trees by the lake!" The volume of Yugi's voice was rising, as he turned back to Yami, glaring, "I saw someone with white hair go into the forest! It could've been Ryou for all I knew!"
"So why go in alone?" Yami demanded, "Why didn't you call for back up?"
Yugi just stared at him, "You don't trust that I can handle things on my own." It was a statement rather then a question, one that Yami flinched away from. Yugi pushed himself to his feet and spat out the words, "You're still treating me like I'm fourteen years old!"
"Then stop acting like it and think before you act!" Yami snarled back, his glare matching Yugi's.
"I'm not a child anymore!" Yugi snapped, "What was I supposed to do? Stand around and wait for everyone to arrive?"
"You should've waited for me."
"By then it would've been too late!" Yugi snarled, "It doesn't matter if it was Bakura out there or Ryou, no one deserves to have their soul eaten!"
"Bakura doesn't care! How many times has he tried to send us to the Shadow Realm? He didn't care when he caused Kari's miscarriage!"
"You're wrong there." Yugi's cold voice pierced Yami's hot rage, "He didn't take the Orb when he could've, he, if you stop to think before you open your mouth, was the one who was most disgusted at his actions."
Yami's temper flared, and fear flashed in Yugi's eyes as unrestrained Shadow Magic, released by Yami's anger, lashed towards him. Yami's eyes widened, but he couldn't call it back. Yugi hit the wall, and slid down it with a groan, the look in his eyes, when he finally opened them, was one of sorrow and bewilderment.
Yami froze, Yugi wasn't aware it hadn't been deliberate…
Someone behind Yami grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the room, Mahado, Joey, Mana, everyone… they were all glaring at him…
"What the hell has gotten into you?" Joey demanded.
"I think you should leave…" Mahado said, anger in his eyes, if not in his voice.
"Anyone who attacks their friends are not welcome here." Someone snarled; Yami wasn't sure who.
"I didn't mean too… I just lost my temper…" Yami started to say.
"Get out!" Kisara screamed at him, preparing to attack.
Mahado, refused to look at him, and turned away.
Yami left.
What had he been thinking?
What had he done?
He ran, trying to get away from his guilt and his anger, and the memory of Yugi looking completely shocked by his actions.
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February arrived, with no change in the cold.
Neither in the weather…
Or Yugi's attitude towards Yami.
Professor McGonagall still hadn't given Harry back his broomstick, and his Anti-Dementor classes weren't going too well.
He was just finishing a session with Lupin, when the Professor had asked him an interesting question, did Black deserve to have his soul eaten by the Dementors?
Harry had initially thought yes, but remembering what Yugi and the others had said about souls being sent to, or trapped in the Shadow Realm, he'd wondered, did anyone really deserve that fate?
Yugi obviously didn't think so, or he wouldn't have gone into the Forest to help Bakura, even though they were enemies.
Harry bumped into Professor McGonagall as he headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, "I've just been looking for you in the Gryffindor Common Room," She said, "Well, here it is, we've done everything we could think off, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all… you've got a very good friend out there somewhere, Potter." Harry's jaw dropped, she was holding out his Firebolt, and it looked as magnificent as ever.
"I can have it back?" Harry asked, "Seriously?"
"Seriously." Professor McGonagall proceeded to recommend that Harry got to practise on it before Saturday's game, and allowed him to rush up to the Common Room, letting Neville in as he passed, the boy had lost the sheet with all the passwords written down, and he showed off the Firebolt to the entire Gryffindor Quidditch Team, minus Yugi, who'd been sleeping in the Monster's Wing every night since the fight.
Having taken it upstairs, Harry came back down and decided to start being nicer to Hermione, who was working on homework with Kari, which was disrupted by a strangled yell that echoed down the boy's staircase. The whole Common Room fell silent, staring petrified at the entrance. Then Ron came into view, dragging with him a bedsheet.
"LOOK!" He bellowed, striding over to Hermione and Kari's table, "LOOK!" He yelled, waving the bed sheet under their noses.
"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Kari asked calmly.
"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"
Hermione and Kari looked completely bewildered, Harry looked on the sheet, there was something red on it, something that looked horribly like…
"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence, "HE'S GONE! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"
"N-no." Hermione said, her voice trembling. Kari had a horrible feeling she knew.
Ron threw down something onto Hermione's homework. They, and Harry looked at it. Lying on top of the homework, were three long, ginger cat hairs, four short, smoky coloured cat hairs, and two long black cat hairs…