~ "o" ~ "o" ~

Yu-Gi-Oh/Harry Potter

Title: Order and Shadows

Author: Kyogre (Ana)

Summary: YGOHP xover. To create a new body for Yami, Yugi turns to more modern magic. But Shadows look too close to Dark for English wizardry and the Order of the Phoenix.

Notes: Eh… I took liberties with canon. You'll know the ones. Honestly, I don't want to drag it out, so this will make things simpler.

~ "o" ~ "o" ~

Eighth: Aloof Challenger

~ "o" ~ "o" ~

Life with the Order was… awkward.

The morning after he had arrived, Yugi came downstairs to find a brood of redheads moving in. They turned out to be Bill's family and were being assisted by two of the people Yugi would be seeing most often in the near future – Hermione and Sirius.

Aside from Molly and Sirius, the members of the Order came and went at irregular intervals and always very quickly. Yugi still didn't know most of them by name, much less background. He imagined there were some he had never even met.

Dumbledore was frustratingly illusive. Yami suspected the old man was avoiding them on purpose, while Yugi – and everyone else – believed he was just very, very busy.

With most of the Order constantly out on business, Yugi had very little chance to make headway in his quest to retrieve the Millennium Spellbook. He tried to spend the time working out the details of his research in his head, but it was difficult without his notes. He just didn't have a head for spells and rituals.

His other option was to spend time with the Wealeys, something Yugi would have usually welcomed, but that presented its own challenge. The Weasleys were Bill's family. Bill knew only Yami, and he was perceptive enough to notice the differences between the two of them. (And, frankly, wizards had much more reason to be suspicious of a sudden personality change.) Yugi didn't really know how much Bill had told his siblings and parents about Yami, but it seemed to have been enough to make the twins regard Yugi oddly when he greeted them too cheerfully.

Yami was, meanwhile, unhappy and antisocial.

After Yugi took to haunting the entryway to lay in wait for unsuspecting Order members to ambush and ask, insistently, about Dumbledore, progress on the Millennium Spellbook and the war in general, Sirius volunteered to give him a tour of the house. Yami suggested, perhaps not without reason, that he had been given orders to keep them occupied.

Nonetheless, Yugi smiled and accepted.

Now, trotting after Sirius down another dirty, abandoned hallway, Yami and Yugi quickly looked over their situation.

'We should leave,' Yami's mental voice declared. 'This is going nowhere. These people are just waiting to get attacked, and they're avoiding us. We'll get nothing useful out of them.'

'Let's give them a little more time,' Yugi sent back. 'At least until we can talk to Dumbledore again. If he doesn't have any answers beyond "trust me," then…'

Yami reluctantly agreed.

'In the meantime, maybe we can get some answers out of Sirius,' Yugi thought. 'He seems almost as restive as you.'

"This wing used to be my uncle's. To be honest, I never went in even when I still lived here," Sirius said, stopping at a turn in the corridor and gesturing further in. Maybe it was just Yugi's imagination, but there seemed to be almost a dividing line, the carpet and wallpaper darker and more worn beyond where they stood.

"Why?" Yugi wondered.

"He was very into the Dark Arts, more than most of my 'family' even," Sirius explained bitterly. "Apparently there's such a thing as Darker Arts. My brother and I were instructed very firmly to never bother Uncle Cygnus – or we might become… volunteers in his experiments."

Yugi glanced at him, hesitating for a moment before asking, "What happened to him?"

"Dead," Sirius snorted. "No one's sure of the details. It was all very hush-hush. The funeral was closed casket."

Unsure how to respond, Yugi regarded him closely. He seemed angry, but also perhaps relieved and vindicated. Bitterly triumphant, that was it.

'His soul is ragged, worn,' Yami commented at the back of his mind.

"Do you want to go in?" Yugi suggested impulsively. Vaguely, he thought that perhaps it would be a kind of victory and a mark of defiance to Sirius. He was a bit like Kaiba, actually.

For a moment, Sirius's expression was pure surprise, before shifting into a smirk as the idea caught on and quickly took root in his mind. "Oh, sounds like an adventure," he hummed. He stepped across the boundary in the corridor jauntily, and Yugi hurried after him. "Trespassing is an old hobby of mine," Sirius told him. "Maybe I'll put itching powder on all the sheets. Or should I just put some nice graffiti on the walls – simple, but classic?"

"Er, well," Yugi stammered, "both?" He had never been a model student, but he'd never been a delinquent either. 'Think, what would Joey do?' "We could donate all their stuff. To orphans. Muggle-born orphans," he finally suggested, wincing at the lameness of it.

Sirius laughed, bark-like. "Oh, they'd hate that!"

Not quite understanding the feeling, but glad to see the man happier than his usual sullen self, Yugi trailed after him with a lopsided smile.

~ "o" ~ "o" ~

Before too long, Yugi and Yami understood and agreed with the admonitions of Sirius's family. The place was, simply put, a death trap. In every sense of the word.

Leaving Sirius to set fire to some particularly vicious drapery, cursing very creatively, Yugi looked around the large sitting room they had made their way to. At least, he thought it was a sitting room. Large bookcases lined one wall, with windows along another (though they were actually quite deep in the house, if Yugi remembered correctly; it was also not midnight, despite the starry sky on the windows displayed). Armchairs stood arrayed in some arcane pattern, interspersed with low tables topped by lovely vases full of withered flowers.

Yami thought it was all out to get them – the armchairs would devour anyone who sat on them, the tables were decorated with dangerously sharp edges and seemed to wiggle even as Yugi watched, the vases looked cursed and the flowers were probably poisonous. And the carpets had an unsettling tendency to shift underfoot.

"It's not dusty at all," Yugi noted thoughtfully, toeing the carpet. Sure, everything was worn and faded, but it wasn't dirty or dusty. It looked… recently cleaned.

"Kreacher's been through here," Sirius said with a snarl, finally beating the drapes into hanging lifelessly beside the nightsky window. "Figures that deformed little freak would clean here and not anywhere people actually live. Not a single sign of doxies or any pests like that either."

'Right, Kreacher,' Yugi thought uncomfortably. He had already had his run in with the old house elf, who cursed out the Weasley, Hermione and Sirius under his breath, while trying to smuggle something out of the downstairs living room. Just about the only upside was that the meeting had left Kreacher out of sorts as well. He had departed muttering about empty vessels and Shadow Lords, which did nothing for Yami's paranoia. Fortunately, all the wizards had ignored the house elf soundly.

"Kreacher!" Sirius barked, and the creature appeared with a pop, already grumbling to himself. "What were you doing, cleaning here?" he demanded. "No one's been in here for decades! Do something useful, why don't you?"

The house elf looked startled at their location. His bulging eyes darted around the room, flickering repeatedly to a single chest of drawers. "O-of course, master," he simpered when Sirius's glare became positively toxic. "Kreacher will do his outmost to be of use to the noble House Black!" Turning away, he added, "Unlike this filthy blood traitor who broke his poor mother's heart."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure it really broke that old shriveled shrew's black-coal heart to give me my 'just desserts!'" Sirius sneered. "Well, at least she had that spineless twit Regulus to carry on the legacy like a proper little pureblood supremist. She must have been so proud when he joined Vodemort's snake cult!"

'He's really bitter… and hurt,' Yugi thought with a said frown.

'He must have grown up here, and from the sound of it, he was quite happy to leave,' Yami sent back. 'Being forced back probably brings up many unpleasant memories that he never truly confronted. It's wearing at him.'

'Being rejected by your own family is painful,' Yugi agreed. He tried to put on a happy face no matter what, but the atmosphere in this house was beginning to make even him melancholy and faintly depressed.

'…Did you see the house elf just then?' Yami changed the subject, rather gracelessly, in an effort to distract his partner from his unhappy thoughts.

Smiling faintly, Yugi allowed himself to be pulled away. 'Yeah. When Sirius brought up his brother, Kreacher looked at that chest of drawers again.'

'At the jewelry box on top, specifically,' Yami added. 'It's heavily warded. I can't sense anything inside at all.'

'Like lead against x-rays,' Yugi thought, walking up to the cabinet. He had to stand on tip toes to get a good look at the box in question, heavily decorated in swirling patterns of silver with emeralds. Reaching out toward it, he paused as Kreacher suddenly wailed.

"You mustn't touch that!" he screeched. "No, no! You mustn't!"

'I agree. It's probably cursed,' Yami added. 'Honestly, Yugi, you shouldn't touch every shiny thing you see.'

Blushing faintly, Yugi drew away. 'I don't!' he protested. '…Although I guess you might be right about this thing.'

"What? Why not?" Sirius demanded, yelling to be heard over Kreacher's shrieks.

The house elf pulled at his ears, glancing around nervously. "It's, it's cursed! Yes, the vessel will get damaged!"

'…If you calls a "vessel" one more time, I'm sending his non-human soul to the Shadows,' Yami sent angrily.

'I'm a teapot short and stout,' Yugi hummed to himself, snorting at Yami's exasperation. 'Sorry, but when I hear "vessel," I always think "pot."' Despite the disapproving look Yami was sending his way, Yugi could sense that his other self was relieved by Yugi's humor.

"Like you care," Sirius continued, unaware of the mental conversation Yugi was carrying out. "And is that supposed to be some new insult?"

"O-of course Kreacher cares about the vessel of the Shadow Lord!" Kreacher protested, now hopping from foot to foot in agitation. "Oh, yes, Kreacher wouldn't want to bring the wrath of the Shadows on the most noble House Black!"

"Well, if you care so much about House Black, you can just open it yourself," Sirius decided, his eyes narrowing.

"There's nothing inside for you blood traitors anyway!" Kreacher hissed.

"Oh, really? So you've opened it before, to know what's inside," Sirius noted. "Then I order you to open that box."

Kreacher wailed piteously.

Feeling a surge of pity for the poor creature, Yugi bit his lip. "Maybe we should just leave him be," he suggested. "I mean, if he says…"

"He's probably lying or twisting his words somehow," Sirius said decisively. "If there was really nothing interesting in there, he wouldn't make such a fuss. No, this room and whatever is in that box are important somehow."

"Still, I-"

But Yugi's protests were cut off suddenly as Kreacher, under the compulsion of a direct order, finally magicked the box into his claws and opened it reverently. Something shrieked, making Yugi chocked in shock.

'It's like the snake,' he thought, gasping and backing away. 'It's got a shard of a soul inside it!'

Yami surged forward, his mind overlapping with Yugi's, filling in each other's empty spaces. It was enough to dampen the noise, disturbing but almost siren-like. Kreacher's mad eyes darted to Yugi, sensing something in a way unique to house elves.

Unable to hear or feel anything, Sirius stepped up to Kreacher and reached into the jewelry box. He pulled out an ornate locket, its chain wrapped around his hand.

"This thing is…" he trailed off, frowning and peering at it closely. From behind the window-like panels, two eyes peered back. Sirius yelped, thrusting it away, but the locket remained wound around his hand. A malevolent shadow began to ooze out, hissing.

"What a worn soul you are," it crooned. "So, so tired. You've been betrayed so painfully, haven't you? All your friends, turning their backs and leaving you all alone. Oh, it hurts so much, doesn't it?"

Sirius snarled, his face twisting desperately, as the shadow began to thicken and coalesce into a humanoid shape. It reached toward him, like a final embrace. "But you don't have to be alone. Come to me…"

"No!" Yugi yelled, reaching out to grab the locket where it dangled from Sirius's hand. Pain lanced through his whole arm, his fingers reddening as if burned. It hissed at him, red eyes glowing inside, and the shadowy form bared fangs as it wrapped around a transfixed Sirius.

'Enough,' Yami declared, sliding into control. He winced as power gathered in his damaged hand but pressed on, calling on the true Shadows.

"Mind Crush!"

Shadow Magic blasted forth, momentarily inverting the world. The locket and the thing inside shrieked, struggling against his power. In a human, this attack would rip away the topmost, evil layer of their selves, leaving them perhaps just dazed, perhaps in a coma. A damaged fragment like this was utterly disintegrated, ripped apart and blow away.

A moment later, it was over. The locket, cracked and blackened, dangled from Sirius's hand lifelessly, before he collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Yami himself wavered on his feet for a moment, cradling his injured arm.

'That took more than I expected,' he thought.

'Was it that strong?' Yugi wondered, gracefully turning them around before Yami could protest. He winced and bit his lip but refused to relinquish control again.

'No…' Yami admitted unhappily. 'I am just… weaker. Without the Millennium Puzzle, my power is… limited.'

'Everyone's power is limited,' Yugi pointed out, kneeling beside Sirius. 'There's nothing to be ashamed off, other me. It just means you're human.'

"Sirius? Sirius, can you hear me?" Yugi called out to the wizard, who had begun to shiver faintly.

"What… What was that?" the man wondered. "It was like a Dementor, but…" He shook his head desperately.

"Oh great lord," Kreacher whispered, kneeling as well, the jewelry box still in his arms. "You destroyed, oh Shadow Lord…"

Two pairs of eyes turned to him. "You know what that thing was? Tell me!" Sirius demanded.

Kreacher shook his head, whimpering. "It was Master Regulus's. He entrusted it to Kreacher. Told Kreacher to destroy it, but Kreacher failed, could only hide it…"

"Regulus's?" Sirius muttered. "Where did he get something like that? He wasn't like dear Uncle Cygnus, just a sheep really."

"It was like the snake that attacked me," Yugi repeated his earlier thought. "That night with the Death Eaters."

"Then… it was Voldemort's? But why would Regulus want something of his lord's destroyed?" Sirius mused.

"Do you know, Kreacher?" Yugi asked gently. "Why did Regulus ask you to destroy that locket?"

Kreacher's eyes darted to him, sizing him up. In the back of Yugi's mind, Yami looked menacingly, something that the house elf seemed to sense. "Yes, Shadow Lord and other," he whimpered. "Master Regulus… thought he was wrong. That pretend lord was just a halfblood himself, an impure imposter who made his betters grovel to him and spouted false promises. Brave Master Regulus found his weakness and retrieved it, but he lost his life and entrusted it to Kreacher to dispose of. And Kreacher failed!"

The old house elf burst into tears at the thought of his failure. "Until now," Yugi blurted out, making Kreacher look up at him in surprise. "You succeeded now. You led us to it and we destroyed it. So you succeeded. It just took a while."

"Kreacher… succeeded," the house elf murmured to himself, testing it out. "Kreacher succeeded. Oh yes, he did. Carried out brave Master Regulus's final order, Kreacher did!"

He hugged the jewelry box jubilantly, making Yugi smile, though a little strained. Abruptly, Sirius stood, ripping the locket's chain off his hand. He looked conflicted and unnerved as he glared down at the broken thing.

"That's… I don't know," he admitted, shaking his head. "But we need to tell Dumbledore. Now."

~ "o" ~ "o" ~

Returning to the more habitable parts of the manor, they ran into Snape, almost literally. The Hogwarts Potion Master had wedged himself into a dark corner of the entry way, simultaneously hiding from the Weasleys and waiting for Dumbledore.

He stepped out of the shadows when Yugi almost tripped on his feet and sneered down at the unlikely pair. "It's the useless two," he taunted. "If you have nothing to contribute then at least don't interfere with those that do."

Sirius and Yami growled. 'I would gladly do whatever necessary to retrieve the Millennium Spellbook,' Yami hissed, though only Yugi could hear him. 'Their leader is the one who insists we remain in this house, pointlessly confined!'

"Don't act so high and mighty, Snivellus," Sirius snarled. "Feeling awfully important now that you've got an excuse to go crawling back to Voldemort, aren't you?"

Snape's face – sallow and exhausted, Yugi noticed – distorted in rage. "Don't say his name," he hissed. "Show some respect to your betters. I am risking my life to gather vital information while you laze about in your mansion, you flee bitten mutt!"

"Are you waiting for Dumbledore to make your report?" Yugi broke in, sliding between the two men, both of whom continued to glare at each other over his head. "We have something we need to talk to him about too."

Snape's dark eyes passed over Yugi with casual disinterest. "…There is a matter that involves you, so no doubt Dumbledore will want your… input. But the mutt is utterly irrelevant."

All the dog insults reminded Yugi sharply of Joey. It had been a long time since he had seen his friend, and no matter how much he pushed it down, the absence of Joey and the others was like a gaping wound. In this strange place, surrounded by strange people wrapped up in their own agendas, he wished for Joey's solid and steady presence, if only to know someone had his and Yami's back, no matter what.

'I'm sick of all these games and secrets,' he thought. 'If Dumbledore doesn't want explain or cooperate, then we'll handle it on our own, like we always did. We've faced everything head on, from stolen Items and god cards to world domination plots. We'll face this too.'

As if his thoughts were a summoning spell, the door to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place opened with a flourish to allow Albus Dumbledore, in all his purple, be-starred glory to step inside.

He smiled benevolently at them, his sharp blue eyes taking in the situation. "Ah," he said, "shall we make our way somewhere more private?" He realized there was no point in his usual maneuvering, quite wisely.

As they ensconced themselves in one of the uncleaned rooms off the main hall, Snape shot Sirius a considering glance, opening his mouth to suggest he leave, no doubt, but a particular look from Dumbledore made him back down.

"Well then, I believe it best Severus begin," Dumbledore said with almost unseeming brightness. "But first, lemon drop?"

Yugi reached out to accept, while Snape and Sirius glared, but Yami quickly protested. 'Don't take candy from him,' he reproached. 'Who knows what's in it? And before you say anything, remember he already tried to casually read our minds, at first meeting.'

Yugi drew back, and Dumbledore shut the case after taking a candy for himself.

Clearing his throat, Snape began. "The Dark Lord has been trying to read that book, to the exclusion of all else. He relegated all other tasks to his highest Death Eaters."

Dumbledore nodded, as if all was according to plan.

"Malfoy has been assigned to a retrieval from the Ministry of Magic and will soon be making an attempt," Snape continued. "Yaxley has been recruiting among pureblood families with sympathetic tendencies, though I don't know if he has head any success. Macnair will be departing shortly to recruit the giants."

"Things are proceeding as I expected," Dumbledore agreed.

"Are we just going to let this go on?" Sirius asked with a frown. "If we know what they're doing…"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, if we act on all the information Severus provides us, our source will become all too clear. No, we must pick our battles. Ultimately, the Dark Lord will have no success at the Ministry, of that I am certain. He does not know the full extent of the safeguards in place. As for the recruitment of allies, I have been exerting all my sway with those that may yet be convinced to remain neutral, if not join us outright. And of course, we have a trump card of our own when dealing the giants."

He chuckled, though no one shared his levity. Snape looked away, expressionless, while Sirius frowned, though he remained silent. Yugi could feel Yami gather himself as if for battle as his own pulse began to pick up.

"As for that book…" Snape continued after a moment, "the Dark Lord has been secretive. I looked at it. It was meaningless to me, but he has hinted at some sort of progress. He had a rare quetzalcoatl brought in for some kind of ritual."

"It seems you were correct, Mister Muto," Dumbledore said brightly. "The Dark Lord is quite stumped by your golden book. I am certain we will be able to retrieve it before he makes significant progress... if he persists that long. He is, by nature, easily frustrated and angered, too used to succeeding easily. He may abandon it before too much longer."

"I don't expect that will be the case," Snape disagreed with a frown. "He has not… demonstrated, but he seems certain of his progress. He is also absolutely obsessed. I do not know more. Instead, I have been ordered to translate these."

He pulled out a sheath of papers, which Yugi instantly recognized. "My notes!" he exclaimed.

"Well, how fortunate. Of course, the originals will need to be returned, but we can easily copy these for you, Mister Muto. I am sure you are eager to continue your research," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. "And you will be able to provide Severus with a translation, as well. It will have to be accurate, I'm afraid, in case the Dark Lord chooses to have it checked."

"Hm? Oh, well, it's not about the book anyway," Yugi said a little distractedly. "It wouldn't be much help to him anyway. He's not the sort of person who could make it work."

"Yes, well, that is the conclusion of my report," Snape said snappishly. "So if we could deal with this matter quickly, I would like to depart…"

"Ah, but I believe Sirius and Mister Muto also had something to tell me," Dumbledore said mildly.

Sirius nodded sharply. "I was showing him around the house when we came across this locket," he explained, holding up the broken item. Dumbledore reached for it with a faint frown. "Kreacher had hidden it in a cursed box. He said he got it from Regulus, who stole it from Voldemort."

Here Snape winced again, and Dumbledore's frown deepened, though his attention was riveted by the blackened locket in his hand.

"This… is Tom's…" he murmured to himself.

"Yeah, apparently," Sirius agreed, distractedly running a hand through his tangled hair. "According to Kreacher, Regulus decided Voldemort" (another wince) "wasn't all he expected, so my brother turned on him. He thought this thing was Voldemort's weakness and ordered Kreacher to destroy it before passing on. But the old freak couldn't, so he just stashed it here."

Dumbledore tore his gaze away to look at Sirius, then Yugi, piercingly. "He couldn't destroy it? Then, did something happen, perhaps, when you found this?" he asked, too mildly to be a demand but with the same compulsion.

Sirius shuddered. "Yes. Yes, something happened. It was… It was like this thing was alive. Or, something was inside it. It… spoke to me. It was like a Dementor, reaching into my soul, but… not the same." He looked away, swallowing heavily. "It was… evil. Muto did something to it, destroyed it."

At that, Dumbledore's gaze snapped to Yugi again, affixing on him. "Is that so? What did Mister Muto do, exactly?" the old man wondered softly. Even Snape had leaned in with interest, his dark eyes intent.

"Hell if I know," Sirius said. "But it made Kreacher go very polite. Called him, what was it… 'Shadow Lord.' Or was it something about a vessel?"

'Oh please, just stop talking,' Yugi thought desperately, squirming. 'Oh they'll never let me go now.'

Yami pressed against him, ready to fight – or run if it came to that. But Yugi nudged him away, determined to keep this from a confrontation as long as possible.

'No more secrets,' he repeated his resolution to himself. 'And that means from us too.'

"I don't know what that was exactly," he began, "but it had a fragment of a soul in it. The snake that attacked me with the Death Eaters was the same way. These damaged pieces are lodged inside, and they try to complete themselves. The one in the locket was able to even reach out and… it tried to, um, absorb part of Sirius's soul for itself. He was more vulnerable to it because, uh, his soul is… damaged too, sort of."

"Dementors, of course," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Is that so," Dumbledore murmured, his gaze thoughtful but still firmly focused on Yugi, who swallowed nervously.

"I, uh, well, I know some of the magic in the Millennium Spellbook – Shadow magic. It's magic dealing with the soul. Most of it is… very bad. But I learned a bit…" Yugi trailed off, almost able to feel Dumbledore's suspicion growing. "Well, anyway, I used a blast of Shadow magic to destroy that soul fragment."

For a long moment, all four (five) of them were silent.

"So, what was that?" Yugi ventured. "I mean, I know it's possible… to put part of your soul in something, but that's… And those pieces were so broken…"

"That," Dumbledore said, never taking his eyes off Yugi, "was a Horcrux." Snape and Sirius hissed, as if this strange word meant something to them. "It is a very dark and forbidden magic. I am surprised you know of something like it, much less what sounds like a… more efficient method." His eyes narrowed.

"Horcrux?" Sirius broke in, a tremor in his voice. "Are you serious? That's just insane. Are we talking about the same thing?"

"What is it?" Yugi wondered. "I've never heard of it. I didn't read about anything like that at the archive, or anywhere else."

"It's a Dark Art. It wouldn't be in any books. I only heard about it once, hypothetically. You split your soul in two and seal half in something. But the two halves remain connected, in a way, so that even if your body is killed, you won't really die," Sirius explained.

Yami shuddered, curling closer around Yugi.

"That's…" Yugi couldn't quite find words. "Insane. Splitting your soul in half is crazy, and then keeping a connection open too. You can't expect to live like that. And then in half again…" He shivered as well, drawing his other half as close as they could be. It wasn't quite as close as they could have once been, now that they had both become more complete.

"You say some very interesting things," Dumbledore noted. "If I understand correctly, it is possible to take a smaller piece of a soul out, rather than just divide it evenly. And also, it is possible to cut off that piece from the rest."

Yugi blinked in surprise. "Yes," he replied automatically. "It's a matter of how you do it, I suppose, of what your purpose is. If you keep the two parts connected, they do resonate and keep each other anchored, but at the same time, you make it impossible for that wound to close or heal. You make yourself more vulnerable."

Dumbledore hummed, a thoughtful sound. "And when you say you have not read about anything like this, you mean… your knowledge is first hand?"

"Uh, it's from experience, I guess," Yugi admitted. "I saw some people seal souls in things, though they were usually whole, and I saw someone keep a part of their soul in something too, I think, though I'm kinda guessing on that one."

'Yes, that must had been what the spirit of the Ring did… or rather, what Zorc did,' Yami noted, his mental voice subdued. 'That's how he kept surviving. Some part of him remained constantly bound to the evil of the Millennium Items and could not be destroyed.'

"Mister Muto," Dumbeldore began, his voice chilly, but still soft. It made Yugi shiver again and straighten his spine, as if facing a principal or a particularly stern teacher. "I hope you understand when I say this knowledge is… atypical, and worrying. You speak easily of things that are… not simply forbidden, but sacred to us."

'Souls are sacred to all,' Yami thought, his hackles rising. 'We don't speak of this lightly…'

"Your experience appears extensive… and first hand," Dumbledore continued. "Perhaps there is something else, something you have done, that you should make known to us." His ice blue gaze was judging as he looked down on Yugi over his spectacles. "You understand when I say there are certain… anomalies in your behavior."

'On second thought,' Yugi decided with a shudder, 'there are some secrets that need to be kept.' Maybe he was imagining it, but Dumbledore seemed almost menacing. It scared Yugi, to realize that these people may not be very understanding to his and Yami's situation.

"I haven't done anything like that," Yugi said quietly. "I learned how to reach out to the outmost, impermanent shell of the soul, and how to rip it away by force. In a human, that would destroy their accumulated feelings, usually negative, but leave their core self intact. It's not enough to kill anyone, and it's the most basic ability."

There was no need to mention that Yugi only had a theoretical understanding of how Shadow magic worked, which had taken him quite a bit of study to figure out, while Yami had always simply acted on instinct.

What Dumbledore was guessing at and what he referred to – that was the Pharaoh Atem's doing. He had been the one to split his soul, and the exact nature of his sealing spell was still unknown, even to the two of them.

But even with just that, Sirius and Snape were both eyeing him distrustfully.

"…Very well," Dumbledore said. "We appreciate your forthcoming. I'm sure we all have plenty of food for thought, so this meeting will now-"

"Wait," Yugi protested, "if this Dark Lord's soul is that heavily damaged, then he'll be far more susceptible to the Millennium Spellbook. Even if he can't read it, exactly, he might be able to instinctively use some of its magic. We have to get it back as soon as possible."

Snape's gaze focused heavily on Yugi for a moment before he turned back to Dumbledore. "I agree," he said. "The Dark Lord seems to be affected by this thing, more than just his usual lust for power and knowledge. Even without that, I feel uneasy leaving something so dangerous in his hands."

"If we panic and rush in, we will only worsen our situation," Dumbledore cautioned. "At this moment, we have no means of retrieving that book. We must wait for the opportune moment."

'True victors create their own opportunities,' Yami thought, his and Yugi's feelings resonating into unwavering determination.

"The Dark Lord has been using a single base for the last few days. This might be our best chance, before he begins to move around again," Snape said.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No doubt a pureblood holding. He will have turned all the ancient wards to his advantage. No, we need to wait."

None of the others appeared satisfied with that, but Sirius and Snape both bowed to Dumbledore's decision, while Yugi and Yami stood back, their minds made up. After the old man departed, again disappearing on some mysterious business, Snape pulled Yugi aside and, with a deft charm, copied his notes onto several clean rolls of parchment. He then departed as well, leaving behind demands of a translation within three days.

Seeing them both off with a focused calm, Yugi headed back to his assigned room and quickly gathered his few belongings. Sirius trailed behind him, watching but not interfering.

"So you're leaving?" he asked finally.

"There are some things I need to take care of," Yugi said, looking up with a smile.

"The Order's not going to like you just taking off like that, especially you heard Snape's super-secret report," Sirius cautioned, his casual stance belaying his serious warning.

"I didn't realize I was a prisoner," Yugi commented, slipping his bag over his shoulder. "I trust the Order won't spread my secrets around, and I won't give away theirs. But I just can't sit around and wait. I need to get back the Millennium Spellbook. It's my responsibility."

"Right," Sirius agreed with a rougish grin. "Tell you what. I bet the Order will feel a lot better if you've got someone with you. Just, you know, safety in numbers and all. So we'll just leave them a note, and then be off."

For a moment, Yugi only stared in surprise. "I thought you weren't supposed to leave the house," he said. "Aren't… wanted, or something like that?"

"Don't worry," Sirius winked. "I've got a great disguise."

And then, he changed, and a big black dog stood in his place. Somehow, it was smirking too.

~ "o" ~ "o" ~

End Notes: Yes, again with ranting.

Re: SiSi. Yes, I'm getting worked up over this (well, kinda; not really; actually, I'm smiling). What bothers me is that I already know all this and I already thought about it. I guess I'm just annoyed by the assumption that I don't understand this stuff. It's a choice on my part to go with the dub.

While the dub was bad in some ways, it's also what I imagine most of us watched. I don't even know how Bakura (or Jounouchi, or anyone) acted in the Japanese, though I'm reasonably sure there were differences. I couldn't write them if I wanted to. And in the dub, Bakura is pretty dang British, unless he's talking like that for laughs. So… maybe you don't like the dub, but that's what this is based on. …Loosely.

…Let's be honest, I'm not even really trying.

But I got cursed out in Japanese~~~ All is forgiven.

Next chapter: Bakura and the Ministry. Oh, and Percy.

~ "o" ~ "o" ~