Keiko: Well, here I am with a new fic, that will be updated, and I will finish it, because it's my pet/baby. It's genious.

Disclaimer: Keiko does not own either Yugioh! or Harry Potter, those belong to a) Kazuka Takahashi and b) JK Rowling.

Chapter 1: Finding the fallen

It was nearly pitch black out that night when Bakura's path changed. The rain fell down making the countryside that surrounded him seem to be blurry, as if his sight was fading. But he continued walking, a shadow of misery and depression. Slowly, he began to stop, and dismally focused on his surroundings. Gazing at the fuzzy shapes of trees fading into black, then towards the torrents of rain that almost unnoticeably stung his eyes, then down at his water logged shoes, covered in loose pieces of grass and mud, all the while his eyes were blank with surpressed emotions.

Agonizingly, he looked back at the black sky. / Fitting/ he thought, / this is such a perfect reflection of myself./ He snorted softly, and, unless you weren't looking closely, you would see the tears intermingling with the fast pouring rain.

He let himself drop onto is knees into the mud that used to be the road he was walking on, and used his arms to keep himself upright. He sat back on his heels, and wrapped himself in his arms, almost trying to fend off the numbness he felt body and soul, though he knew it would help neither. He shivered, unable to force himself to stand just yet. Even after all this time, he couldn't get over what had happened in the past month. He couldn't get over the betrayal.

flashback

Bakura was resting inside of the Sennen Ring to which he was permanently connected to. Not caring to pay attention to what his hikari was doing, he let himself drift off to sleep. What seemed like minutes later, he felt a splitting pain throughout his whole spirit. Choking on a scream, he was barely aware that he was being forced out of the Ring.

Slowly, the pain stopped, and he opened his eyes to many hostile eyes burning straight at him, the most prominent of them the baka Pharaoh, and of course, his own hikari. Blinking, and backing warily away, he looked at the other people in the room. All of the Pharaohs' brats' friends were there, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, Otoogi, and Shizuka.

The Pharaoh's glare worsened, probably thinking that Bakura was plotting something. " Tomb robber," he sneered, " you must be wondering why we forced you here." At which Pharaoh smirked cruelly.

Bakura glared, and almost growled. He knew Pharaoh was up to something. He tried to delve into the Ring for power to support him if it came to a Shadow Duel, but was pushed back. His eyes widened. He couldn't reach the powers of the Ring!

Pharaoh must have realized that Bakura had noticed the lack of power, because his smirk widened. " I see you have figured out at least part of what is going on. I'm guessing you want to know how this is happening, hmmm?" the almost laughing Pharaoh drawled.

" You see, Yugi's grandfather was kind enough to allow me to go through all his old books with anything to do with Egypt. Can you guess what I found? Two spells, one that has proven to be very useful at blocking your magic, and one we are about to test." And the Pharaoh stepped back, motioning for everyone else to do the same. Accessing power from the Sennen Puzzle around his neck, everything started to glow gold. As the light died down, Bakura didn't really feel any different. He raised an eyebrow in mock query, but the Pharaoh only became smugger.

" I do believe it has worked. I might as well tell you now what's going to happen," said Pharaoh, stepping towards Ryou and removing the Ring from around his neck. " You see, that is a banishing spell. I merely had to set the destination, and in a few moments, you will be gone, to another place far away from here."

Bakura stared. That couldn't be true! Ryou wouldn't let that happen! Sure, they may have started off fearing/hating each other, but they had grown to trust each other. He looked at Ryou, almost pleadingly, but the white-haired hikari stared back impassively, daring Bakura to ask for him to let him stay. For a brief second, Bakura stared at Ryou in slight horror and sadness at being betrayed.

At that, Pharaoh placed the Ring around Bakura's neck, and stepped back as the floor disappeared underneath the shocked Bakura's neck, as he fell through the Shadow Realm, to his new "home".

End flashback

Almost a month later, he found out where he had been forced to go. England. On the other side of the whole fucking world. They really didn't want him to come back. Ryou really didn't want him to come back. And that hurt the most… the first person he had trusted in millennia hated him. A sob was torn from his tight throat. He should never have let down his guard! That sob ended up bringing more, until he was crying out his pain to the unresponsive night air.

And he knew it was useless to try and go back. He had no ways of proving that he had changed. Yes, he had tried to get work, and be paid instead of stealing, but he couldn't help who he was! Ryou had seemed perfectly happy to have him there as a protector, and then all of a sudden, he saw raw, hard hatred…

With nowhere to go, and nobody to turn to, Bakura had had enough. Almost a week after he had been banished, he had regained contact with the Ring, but his connection with his hikari had been severed now that he once again had the original. Since he could tap back into his power source, he knew the easiest way out. He refused to return to the Ring. He refused to live like this at all. Plunging his mind deep into his dark powers, he began.

Under normal circumstances, even though he could use the unlimited power of Shadow magic, he had forced himself to limit the amount he used. Too much would overload, and destroy, his soul. That was what he would do now. He had a way out. The destructive energies waved around him, making deep score marks in the ground, sending mud and dirt up into the air. The heavy weight of power collapsed on his shoulders, sending his hard into the ground on which he was crouching. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. He was being crushed...

Bakura let an ironic smirk plaster across his face. He was going to die by the power he had coveted so many millennia… and then-

Deep in the blackness of the Forbidden forest, it felt a surge of something. Looking up from the carcass of the unicorn he was sucking dry, he smelled the darkness on the air… and he craved it. Picking up his discarded wand, he pushed it into the black mark on his arm, relished in the burning pain, and waited.

Quickly, his confused, and somewhat ecstatic, followers gathered, and he commanded them like he had so many years ago. Just as fast, they vanished with multiple bangs. He sat in the blackness, waiting. That power he sensed would make a delicious meal… and may be enough to revive himself. A cold smirk appeared and vanished from his face. He had waited so long, a few more minutes would make no difference.

-loud bangs were made aware to him, cutting off his concentration from the powers. He growled… someone had DARED interrupt him! Weakly, because that much energy had tired him out, he looked up and snarled at the dark cloaked people that surrounded him.

Each one moved its' arm, which help out a small stick of wood. He snorted. No one could stop him with measly twigs.

Then, each stick emitted a beam of red light. Even in his surprise, and with his lack of energy, Bakura was able to just barely dodge every beam, and they sizzled and charred the ground as they hit the wet surface. The cloaked forms cried in surprise, but quickly got over it, and pointed the sticks at him again.

Feeling like a trapped animal, Bakura leaped back, and onto his feet. He would show no mercy for those who got in his path to freedom from his torment! Snarling, he gathered a small amount of his remaining Shadow powers into his hands. Still dodging blasts, he filled the small ball with as much black magic as he could, then hurled it at his aggressors. With no time to react, all the cloaked figures were engulfed in the blackness of the Shadow Realm. As the black bomb disappeared, and Bakura fell to his knees in complete exhaustion, it left a large crater and the soulless bodies of the former Death Eaters in its' wake.

Bakura couldn't stand. He didn't have the power to finish what he wanted. Frustrated and angry he let out a piercing scream filled with anguish. Then, he collapsed onto the ground completely, sobbing with tears and rain intermingling all over his face.

Only minutes after the shadow of the Dark Lord ordered his Death Eaters to attack and capture the source of magic, Severus Snape stormed into the office of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Brushing his robes slightly to get them out of his way, he stopped, facing the elderly man.

" Severus, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Dumbledore queried his normal glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

" I'm afraid it has to do with the Dark Lord, Albus," Snape began. When Dumbledore inclined his head slightly in a silent admission for him to continue, Snape kept going. " He called the Death Eaters together tonight, and he told us of a dark power he had begun to feel down in the Surrey countryside (AN: I have no f'in clue about any place in England, so if there isn't countryside around Surrey… I don't even know if that is a real place, I just read about it in another fanfic ; yah, I'm kinda ignorant…). The others are off capturing it, but if you get the Order members together fast enough, it may be possible to stop them.

The twinkle that was the norm in Dumbledore's eyes had vanished at the mention of the Dark Lord. Now, feeling a wave of fear in his gut, he quickly called Fawkes to him, while writing down a note for him to take. Tying the note to Fawkes leg, the phoenix let out a scream as he vanished into flames to deliver his message.

In a matter of seconds, Albus was up, wand in hand, and extending his senses to find the energy Snape had told him about. It had vanished, but left traces of darkness smudged in the area around it, and ran out of the school, towards an area where he could Apparate to his destination.

Only to be shocked to the core at the amount of destruction done to the whole area. Deep score marks were everywhere, on the ground and the surrounding trees. A gigantic hole lay almost dead center in the road, with bodies of cloaked Death Eaters scattered amongst the still sizzling earth. Amidst all the destruction, was one small, white haired boy, covered in mud and grass, in obvious trauma.

Dumbledore's natural love of children came over him, and despite the incriminating circumstances, quickly attempted to walk over and comfort the child. But, moments before he could touch him, he was knocked back by some sort of black shield…

With the last of his strength, he put up a weak barrier of Shadow magic. Men who looked like those who had just attacked him wouldn't fool him. Somehow pulling energy out of nowhere, he was barely able to crawl away, even if it was at a snails pace, it was getting away. He knew he couldn't survive another attack.

His concentration on keeping up his shield and moving away, he didn't notice when the elderly man who had hit his shield disappeared momentarily, and reappeared with a group of people, and one glowing, fiery bird.

It alighted the mans shoulder, heading straight for the shield. That was when Bakura noticed what had happened. He hissed in surprise and displeasure, and tried to keep moving further. But he stumbled, and couldn't move an inch. He was frozen in place, because the fiery bird had just flown through, and broken, his shield and headed towards him. It stopped mere feet from him, and Bakura saw the calming intelligence in the birds' eyes.

Fawkes could literally feel the pain that the boy was going through. Except, he knew, somehow, this wasn't a boy, he was something much… older, than even Fawkes was. He could even tell that this being had felt pain after pain throughout his entire long existence, and it saddened him enough for him to sing. The music was haunting, and he cried. He could tell the being was afraid, and he could tell that his song was dropping emotional barriers that had been up for possibly thousands of years.

But, Fawkes stood there, and sang, reaching out to the anguished creature. He looked as if he was trying to form words on his lips, and, unceasing, Fawkes listened to what he said while keeping the music going… he heard " Ra…".

Being as highly intelligent as the phoenix was, he knew that the reference to the ancient deity made this being in front of him at least three millennia old. He knew that he was being compared to the actual God Ra.

But, he couldn't get absorbed in his thoughts. When the spirit had finally gotten that word across hid lips, all his barriers shattered, and his mind seemed to collapse. Fawkes knew he needed help, so he called mentally to Dumbledore. He knew that the old one would be able to help the ancient one.

Dumbledore hurried quickly forward. The screams coming from the boy, and the mental nudge he got from Fawkes were more than enough to make him rush over. Falling to his knees into the ankle deep mud by the boys' side, he wrapped his arms protectively around the white haired boy, and let him cry into his shoulder.

Having been Headmaster to a school of children, Dumbledore was quickly able to determine that the teen in his arms was going through severe mental trauma, coupled with the fact that he had a high enough fever that he was shaking uncontrollably in his arms. He had to get the boy out of the rain, and somewhere where he could recover unbothered, and where Voldemort could not get him, because he was certain that this boy was what Voldemort was after.

Slowly, he turned his head towards the other members of the Order that waited patiently, yet nervously a few feet away, taking precious moments to order them to remove the bodies, and take them to the Ministry to be identified. Then, he shifted his attention back to the boy.

Being as old as he was, he was glad that he didn't have to lift the boy to make a portkey. Pulling a loose candy wrapper from his robe's pocket, he set up the spell, and placed the boys hand on it, before resting his own hand on it. In moments, he felt the normal pulling behind the navel, and soon, they were back in his office. Moments later, Snape, who had not left the office waiting for a report when Dumbledore returned, was hefting the limp boy, who had undoubtedly fallen unconscious before the portkey ride, and heading up the side stairs to Dumbledore's private rooms.

Following, Dumbledore went to his wardrobe, and pulled out one of his warmest robes. He turned to see that Snape had already stripped the boy of all his clothes, and was drying him off with a towel that Dumbledore had left on a chair that morning. As soon as the boy was dry, he was wrapped in the thick robe, then buried in blankets while Dumbledore set to drying his long, white hair. That accomplished, they swiftly deposited him onto the Headmasters bed.

Checking the boys' forehead, and noting the fever, Snape set off to grab some potions that would help revive the boy.

"Severus," said Dumbledore softly, as if he was noisy enough he would wake their fevered charge, " Go get Poppy while you're down there. I want her to double check what might be wrong with him." Nodding, Snape was gone within moments.

With no one around, Dumbledore was finally able to collapse wearily into a chair. His bones ached, and he sighed, knowing he was getting way too old to go off to fight danger in the middle of the night like he used to be able to do. Calling over a pot of tea he had left over his fire, he transfigured a cup for his tea, and sat to wait for Severus to return with the school nurse.

Within half an hour, Severus, and an irate Madame Pomfrey, returned to Albus's rooms. Instantly, Pomfrey had only eyes for her ill patient, while Severus handed her potions as she asked for them.

" How bad off is he Poppy?" was the quiet query from Dumbledore. She turned to him, an annoyed look pasted on her face. " Severe energy loss, sprained muscles, and a high fever. But that's physically. From the looks of him, there's more of an emotional problem there." Then, she glared at him, which gave him the hint not to interrupt her until she was finished.

Nodding once in understanding, Dumbledore looked at Snape, signaling that they leave the room. There was much to discuss.

Seating themselves in Dumbledores' office, Snape sat, and patiently waited for Albus to tell him what had happened on the mission. Sighing, Dumbledore began. It didn't take long for him to say everything he knew, the whole encounter with the boy took no more than half an hour.

" And now, Severus, there are parts from your encounter that I wish to know about. The Dark Lord. Was he truly there?"

Snape nodded. " Voldemort was there, but only partially. He's sharing a body with your new proffesor, Quirrel, wasn't that his name?" The look on Dumbledores' face told him yes. " Not only that, I stayed behind for just a moment to ask how he was surviving. He told me he was living off unicorn blood." Dumbledore hissed in disgust. Attacking and killing unicorns was just the kind of crime he should have guessed Voldemort would sink too.

" And why was he after the boy?"

" Voldemort told us he had high dark energies that could possibly be enough to revive him." Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up. Yes, he understood that the boy had some type of foreign black magic, but not enough to bring back the Dark Lord.

" It seems there is much we need to know from this situation. When the boy wakes, we must ask him to tell us what he knows. If he refuses, I'm afraid we'll have to use Veritaserum. This is too important, and no matter how much it grieves me, we must know what is happening."

" Agreed."

Keiko: Wow, my first chapter of my new fic. . It took so loooong…

Bakura: And I look like a wuss.

Keiko: An angsty wuss, and that's what I need. You're gonna be like that for a looooong time.

Bakura: Joy.

Keiko: A reminder to anyone who wants to read this. Do not expect quick updates. It takes a lot for me to sit down and write even a page. Wanna know how long it took me to write this one? Almost a month. I wouldn't have written it at all if it wasn't for my friend Whistrum. So, there will be updates, but it may take a while. If you want, send me your e-mail address with your review, and I'll mail you back when I've got an update. K? So if I get ANY reviews at all that say " update soon" or one in a few weeks that says " when are you gonna update?", I seriously will take this down. Seeing as how I'm graduating in a month, plus provincial/final exams, I'm going to be very busy at the end of June, which may push back any updates I may make. Comprendez?

Bakura: Whatever.