Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Just Another Crossover...Or Is It? ❯ Chapter 2

"See?" Harry said. "What did I tell you? Snape is a monster."

"You said it," Yu-Gi-Oh agreed, and Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"I didn't like him either, but seriously! What was with that speech about why it was immoral to use the bandage of an Egyptian mummy to make a potion for second sight?"

"That could have been me!" he replied, catching himself just in time to use Japanese-the last thing anybody needed to know was that he wasn't human.

Malik smiled. "I hated him too, but I managed to get on his good side."

"He doesn't have a good side!" Ron protested. "I think the only reason he liked you was because your family has been practicing magic for millenniums-is that true, by the way?"

"Yup. Since the days of the Pharaohs. I've been learning so much about Egyptian history it's painful." For a moment, a shadow crossed over his lilac eyes, but it faded.

"Well, it explains how you and Yugi knew so much in Ancient Ruins," Hermione remarked. "Though it wasn't very nice of you, Yugi, to tell the teacher that her translation of the scrolls in the Tower of Horus was a bunch of crackpot garbage."

"Well, it was," Yu-Gi-Oh protested.

Ron and Harry hadn't taken Ancient Ruins, so they had no idea what was going on. Kaiba didn't either-he had been pruning Snapdragons in Herbology class-but he didn't doubt that Yu-Gi-Oh would say something like that-Yugi wouldn't, but Yu-Gi-Oh would.

"Oh, look," said Ron suddenly. "It's the Defense

Yu-Gi-Oh glanced at the class they were passing. Older kids were streaming out, looking thrilled and a bit freaked out. Among them were the twins-Fred and George-and their friend Lee. "Wow!" cried Fred, looking stunned. "He's amazing!"

"Better than Mad-Eye," Lee agreed. "He must have had a lot of experience with the Dark Arts."

"You don't know how right you are," muttered Yu-Gi-Oh, causing Kaiba to elbow him in the rib-and it was no gentle nudge.

"I hope he doesn't end up dying, getting his memory erased, or turning out to be a spy or a werewolf," said George. "That would be a real shame."

"Trust me, he's a lot worse than a werewolf," muttered Yu-Gi-Oh, but he shut up when Kaiba's hands started blazing silver.

Ron checked his schedule and grinned. "I have him in one period!"

Yu-Gi-Oh looked at his paper. "Same here," he groused, sounding much less enthusiastic than Ron.

"Great. Meanwhile, me and Hermione will be in History of Magic," said Harry with a scowl.

"Tough break," said Lee. "You're going to be in the most boring class while they're in the best class Hogwarts ever had!"

"I doubt that highly," muttered Yu-Gi-Oh, and now Kaiba kicked him. "Cut it out!"

"I have Divination next," said Malik. "I hope Isis goes easy on me, I am her little brother after all…"

"As long as they replaced that awful woman," said Hermione. "She doesn't know what she's doing! Makes it up as she goes along."

"Plus every year she predicts Harry's death," Ron agreed. "This Isis lady can't be any worse."

"Oh, she's not," replied Malik. "She really is psychic, believe me. But," he turned to Harry, "Why is it you she decided is going to die?"

"Yeah, why not Malfoy?" asked Kaiba with a sneer. "If Isis predicted his death, I would start planning the party immediately."

"For one, Malfoy isn't in Divination, so she can't pick on him," Hermione answered. "For another, I'm sure she's just looking for publicity. She'd be renowned as a true seer if Harry Potter died and she predicted it."

"What's the big deal about him?" Malik asked.

"You don't know?" Hermione asked, clearly shocked. "You've certainly been sheltered from the magical world."

"This one, anyway," Malik muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Continue."

"Did any of you read about the dark times about fifteen years ago? And a very dark wizard, known most commonly as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You- Know-Who?"

Hermione waited for a reaction, but they all looked blank. "Harry, would you prefer to explain it? It is your story."

"I guess so," Harry mumbled. "When I was a baby, the dark wizard Voldemort-most don't like hearing his name," he explained, frowning at Ron's horrified expression.

"Anyway, Voldemort came to my mother's home and used magic to kill her-my dad was already dead. He tried to kill me, and it backfired on him because of my mother. He disappeared for a while and everyone thought it was the end of the dark times. So I was made famous by something I had no control over. And Voldemort has been popping up lately, so I didn't really defeat him, but I still get all the attention."

"That was…pretty…blunt, Harry," Hermione remarked, eyebrows lifted.

"Whatever," he replied, clearly not wanting to continue their discussion. "Who else has Care of Magical Creatures next?"

"Me."

"Me."

"Me."

"Me."

Everybody except Malik.

"And the Slytherins will probably be there, too," said Ron with a scowl. "We always have Potions and Care of Magical Creatures with them, and sometimes other classes."

As he had predicted, Slytherins were there as well. "Gather 'round," everybody!" said Hagrid happily. "Had ter' get special permission from the headmaster for these, but it's gunnu be worth it! Yer in for a real treat!"

"Looks like the old bat's prediction might come true after all," muttered Ron, perking Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaiba's curiosity.

"I'll expect you to be gentle with these, as they aren't fully grown," said Hagrid as he pried of the crate of a lid. There were a few gasps as students took in the creatures.

It seemed to be a cat-sized serpent with two pairs of legs and one pair of batlike wings. It had two eyes like diamonds and white scales tinted with a hundred shades of blue. In the center of its forehead was a red oval. One could swear it was a…

"It's a dragon!" Kaiba cried, looking thrilled.

"Excellent!" said Hagrid, beaming. "Five points for Gryffindor. Now, this is the hybrid of an English and a Chinese dragon. It is the smallest dragon in the world, and its parent that is the English dragon must be the male-an English dragon can't give birth to the child of a Chinese one."

"What good is such a tiny dragon?" asked Malfoy.

"As a matter of fact, Malfoy, the dragon has several special qualities," Hagrid replied coolly. "Can anyone name any them?"

"Its scale, if boiled in a liquid, will make the liquid magical," Kaiba replied. "If it is a male dragon, three people can share on cup and be full for a month. If it is a female's, the drinker will not feel a speck fuller even if he or she drinks an ocean, but a milliliter will cure him or her of any disease except death."

"The drink is as searing hot as in the moment it was boiled and has a very distinctive taste," contributed Hermione. "Bitter for a male, sour for a female."

"If the fang is buried, it will create a deadly army that cannot die until the fang is dug up."

"A drop of its blood put a man to sleep for as long as he has lived, another drop will cure him, a third drop will drive him mad, and a fourth drop will kill him."

"Females have white scales each tinted with five shades of blue, males can have scales that are hundreds of shades, and no two scales are alike."

"Every dragon has a different jewel at the center of its forehead. If the jewel is removed or damaged, the dragon will die. The jewel will keep you safe from harm at all times. If you give it as a gift, you and the one you gave it to will both receive the protection. But if it is stolen then the owner and whoever gave it to them lose its protection, but it will not protect the one who stole it."

Kaiba and Hermione finally stopped, having ran out both of qualities and of breath. Hagrid was clearly ecstatic, and everybody but Malfoy and his gang (and a pissed-looking Yu-Gi-Oh, who had retreated to his soul room) seemed quite impressed.

"Fifty points for Gryffindor!" Hagrid crowed. "All of that is exactly right! Now, since these guys are so little, we're going to make a project out of raising them. It will take all year, but it will be well worth it."

A few Slytherins groaned, but everyone else seemed excited. Yugi's eyes were wide with interest. Kaiba looked absolutely elated.

"We don't have that many of them-they're pretty rare, so you'll have to get into groups of two. Maybe three."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were grouped up. Yugi grabbed Kaiba's arm before Yu-Gi-Oh could protest. <It'll be useful to be grouped with somebody who knows his stuff!> he told his furious other half. Upon failing to calm him down, he said, <Fine. I'll be out all the time in this class. You don't have to raise any dragons>

"We'll take this one," Kaiba said, selecting a female with what seemed to be a blue teardrop at its forehead. Yugi wasn't surprised-it had the coloring of a Blue-Eyes.

Made bold by the fact that a new kid had picked up a dragon and not died, others began choosing.

Parviti and Lavender selected a male that was maybe a thousand different shades of pink and purple, Neville and Dean went with Kaiba's example and picked a mostly-white female, Malfoy and his friends picked a male that was mostly black and different shades of gold and silver.

Harry and his friends also followed Kaiba's example, selecting a female that was more blue than white and had shades which ranged from cerulean to navy. It had a green isosceles triangle at his forehead.

"Right then!" said Hagrid. "Firs' thing we're gunnu do is get associated with 'em. Might want ta muzzle 'em first. They have a bit of a bite."

Kaiba refused the muzzle, saying flatly that he didn't need it. Malfoy said the same. Kaiba and Hagrid went around, helping everybody with their muzzles.

"Um…Hagrid?" asked Harry tentatively, after Kaiba had helped everybody with muzzling their dragon. "Is there anything that we might want to know about these things? Like, are they poisonous? Do they breathe fire, or something?"

"The males are poisonous, the females breathe lightnin'"-Kaiba couldn't help but smirk at Yugi's slight flinch. "But they don' do that for about five more months. The tail can make a nasty whip, but otherwise there isn't much to worry 'bout for now."

"Great," drawled Malfoy. "Then we've five months to live, I suppose."

"Oh, shut up," Ron replied.

"How big are they going to get?" asked Dean Thomas.

"'Bout the size of a dog, or a large cat. In a week or so, they'll shed their first skin. Anybody know what that's good for?" Everybody looked expectantly at either Kaiba or Hermione.

"Pain relief," Hermione said.

"Sleeping potions," Kaiba added.

"Five points for Gryffindor," said Hagrid, grinning. "Looks like we have two star pupils now, instead of just one. Do you like dragons?" he asked Kaiba.

"Yes. My wand even contains the heartstring of one. I have three of them back home."

"Isn't that illegal?" Parviti asked, and Kaiba shook his head while trying to coax her dragon into letting him put on the muzzle.

"Not where I'm from, no."

There was a sudden scream-Malfoy should have let his dragon get muzzled. Or maybe it was the insults. Either way, he would be needing a new thumb.

«§¥§»

Yu-Gi-Oh's fists were clenched. [Yugi, why can't you take over in this class like in Care of Magical Creatures? I really don't want to be here!]

"I heard that," said Bakura's voice, very soft, but loud enough to gain everybody's attention. Yu-Gi-Oh for a moment thought Bakura had been speaking to him mentally, but he noticed some kids reacting.

The familiar white-haired thief king seemed to materialize from the shadows. Yu-Gi-Oh was surprised by how comfortable he seemed in a robe-then again, he had been as well. It hid his attractive figure, but made him seem more mysterious. It also made his hair seem even paler in contrast.

"So, you're the next class," he said, still softly. Like Snape and McGonagall, he could get everybody's attention without having to raise his voice. His eyes scanned over each of them, and Yu-Gi-Oh felt a tickling in the back of his head. If he was searching his mind…

"Do you know what you're here to learn?"

Infuriated by the mere sound of that soft, alluring voice, Yu-Gi-Oh wondered if Bakura counted as a demon with glowing red eyes.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course," said Seamus Finnigan.

Yu-Gi-Oh sensed that Bakura was about to roll his eyes but refrained. "Look, I'm sure every single person here has taken at least one Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson before-"

"Oh, and what am I, a duck?" Yu-Gi-Oh demanded indignantly.

Ignoring him, Bakura said, "there are many things known as darkness. It exists within God. It existed within Jesus and Moses and Muhammad and Abraham and whoever else you may worship. It exists within saints. It exists within you. It exists within me."

"I'll say," Yu-Gi-Oh muttered.

"It waits for our weak moments and pounces, though more often than not you manage to survive with little more than a few scratches and perhaps a bruise or two."

His voice lowered, and it seemed to contain millenniums of dark wisdom-which, come to think of it, it did.

"But sometimes…sometimes it catches us, if only for a moment. And then…you get lost in yourself and control nothing. You go nowhere, yet your body may go on a nightly killing spree. You never move your lips, yet you may be loudly cursing out a politician at his campaign."

His eyes were haunted…and yes, dark.

"And when you wake up, you may be standing before the corpse of your best friend with a bloody butcher knife in your hand."

By now, all eyes were on him as he circled the room, still speaking.

"But I am not speaking of a darkness within yourself-the time may come that you must face it, but I will not be able to help you then."

It seemed as if even the walls were listening. Even Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Yu-Gi-Oh seemed to be completely alert-whether they liked it or not.

"I'm talking about malicious forces, hiding behind every rock. You may think you're safe, but you're not. When you least expect it, you may have to face the darkness of another. And when you do, I want you to be ready to blow its freaking head off!"

Most of the students jumped at least eight feet. One clumsy student accidentally blew up a desk. Bakura pointed a finger, muttered something, and the desk immediately fixed itself.

Straitening (and here Yu-Gi-Oh thought he couldn't stand any straighter) he addressed the class again. "Well, now that we've been introduced, let me make one thing clear-I won't take any nonsense. You don't want to behave? Fine. You don't have to behave, you don't have to learn, and you don't have to live. Everybody understand?"

Kids nodded. Even Malfoy seemed impressed. Only Yu-Gi-Oh still frowned. He did not appreciate being addressed as though he was a child!

"We'll start with the basics. Take out your wands-I don't usually use them, but they are good for channeling magic if you don't have a firm enough grip. I'll teach you a simple, but slightly difficult spell to protect you from most spells. Then I'll show you how to make an amulet against negative magics."