C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 25

It wasn’t hard to lose the other three players who were starting on the same strip of beach as he was. They wanted to head straight for the castle where the boss was, spurred on by the promise of a prize for the first ones to make it into the building.

Yami had no interest in the castle, outside of the fact that it could have been where they had been holding Yugi for the last two days. Instead he and Tea headed for the rendezvous point that he had been told about. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that it was a trap. The likelihood of them actually handing Yugi over was slim to none.

It didn’t help his mood that he hadn’t been able to convince Tea to stay back and let him handle the situation. With the others all spread across the island, she had been determined to stay with him and give him a bit of backup, even if there wasn’t much she could do.

He arrived at the cave entrance that had been mentioned well within the half an hour and was frustrated to find that there was no one there to meet him. Considering their insistence that he had to be there on time, it was rather rude of them to keep him waiting.

“I’m sure they’ll be here.” Tea told him as he paced the entrance to the cave, keeping an eye on the interior as he did so. “They told you to...”

Both of them froze as a pained cry emerged from the back of the cave. Yami knew the voice it belonged to, knew it better than he knew his own and he darted into the caves as a second cry could be heard. Yami darted around the tall pillars of stone near the back, only to find a tunnel that led further into the cave system.

Tea was hot on his heels as a third yell, weaker and softer than the first two echoed down the corridor, drawing Yami onwards until he emerged into a large chamber where a group of men in black, hooded robes were waiting for him, one of whom was stood over the fallen form of his light.

“Yugi!” Tea took in a sharp breath as Yami went to dart to the teen’s side only to have to stop short when one of the goons pointed a gun at his light.

 “I wouldn’t.” The ringleader sniggered as Yami tore his eyes away from the battered, bruised, bound and blindfolded form of his other self to glower at the speaker.

“Let him go!” Yami demanded. Yugi whimpered at the sound of his voice, only increasing the Pharaoh’s anger at the men who had dared to lay a hand on Yugi.

“About time you got here, Yugi.” The ringleader laughed viciously, “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show.” A soft groan emerged from Yugi, distracting the Pharaoh. “I’d almost convinced him of it too.”

Yami let out a low growl at that, his hands balling into fists. He would never, ever leave Yugi in danger and that the man in front of him had even tried to convince Yugi otherwise royally ticked the Pharaoh off.

“What do you want from me?” Yami demanded, trying to calm down, knowing that staying furious wouldn’t help him work out a way out of the situation. There had to be a way out of the trap but Yugi was hurt and he couldn’t risk them shooting him.

“First off, hand over your deck and the Puzzle.” The ringleader informed him, holding out his hand for them.

Yami hesitated for a moment. If he handed over his deck and the Puzzle, he was giving up not only the most dangerous cards in the game, but Yugi’s most prized possession and the, so say, most powerful Millennium Item.

“Yami?” Tea asked, putting a hand on his arm. He could feel it trembling, though he couldn’t be sure if it was her trembling, or him.

“Of course if you don’t want to...” The ringleader shrugged, gesturing to the man closest to Yugi, who drove a boot into Yugi’s stomach. Yugi loosed a pained, winded gasp and tried to curl in on himself to shield his stomach from any more abuse.

“Leave him alone!” Yami snapped, ripping the Puzzle off and tossing it to the ringleader before his minion could kick Yugi again.

“And your deck.” The man smirked at him as he snatched the golden item out of the air. Yami, who hadn’t yet slipped his deck into his DimDisk, pulled the stack of forty cards out of his deck holster on his belt. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, offering the deck to the ringleader, hating every minute.

His foot hit a stone which skipped along the floor and, much to Yami’s shock bounced through Yugi. Yami was stunned for just long enough for the fact that the Yugi on the ground was a hologram to sink in, then he pulled back his deck, slipped it into his DimDisk in one smooth motion and called up his magic, pure fury unleashed at being tricked.

“Where’s Yugi?” He demanded, letting the Shadows run wild, swirling past Tea, leaving her unharmed, but blasting the minions away and slamming the ringleader against the wall, pinning him there.

“You’re Yugi.” The ringleader yelped, struggling, trying to free himself.

“My brother.” Yami growled at him, “The real Yugi, where is he?”

“Real?” The man looked confused before letting out a pained screech as Yami directed his magic to shock him. “I...”

“Yami!” The Pharaoh wheeled around to find Tea being threatened by the same mook with a gun who had been threatening the hologram of Yugi.

“Let him down.” The mook snapped at him, pressing the gun against Tea’s temple.

The Pharaoh glowered at him but did as directed, dropping the ringleader and drawing his magic back in, unable to do anything while his friend was in danger.

“You bastard.” The man behind him snarled as he picked himself up. The Pharaoh ignored him in favour of keeping his eyes on the mook next to Tea.

That was a mistake.

The ringleader drove something sharp into Yami’s arm and Yami reacted too slowly, blasting the man away to late to prevent him depressing the syringe and dosing him with something that caused his world to spin.

Yami staggered sideways, ending up leaning against one of the rock piles, as his mind swam and his vision blurred.

“Yami!” Tea struggled against the man holding her, frightened as she watched the Pharaoh’s legs give out, “Yami!”

“I...” He tried to get up, to fight whatever it was he had been drugged with, only to slip back to the ground, too dizzy to be able to get his feet under him properly.

“Take them both.” The mook holding Tea sounded smug as he lowered his weapon and Yami wanted to blast him, but he couldn’t see straight enough to trust his aim and he didn’t want to hurt Tea.

Several mooks advanced on him and Yami tried to push past the fact his world was swimming to defend himself, only for someone else to dose him and his world slipped sideways as he fell on his side. As he blacked out he was at least treated to the sight of Tea decking the mook who had made the mistake of letting her go.

Author Note: And that's all folks

On Serpentverse, at least for now. That's all I managed to get written during that NaNoWriMo period. :)

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 22

“Be gone. There’s no one for you here.” Hermione watched in shock as Harry toppled forward only to catch himself halfway down and stand up straight, except she didn’t think it was Harry. Not with the amber eyes. The boy in place of her friend drew Harry’s wand out of his back pocket and pointed it at the creature, “Expecto Patronum!”

A silvery light erupted from Harry’s wand, taking the shape of a silver serpent which launched itself at the robed figure in front of them. The creature ran away, the glowing silver serpent in fast pursuit.

“And stay out!” Powel bellowed after the Dementor, knowing full damn well what it was that had invaded his host’s carriage and brought to the fore memories so bad that it had caused Harry to pass out. Powel didn’t doubt that, had he been in control he wouldn’t have been in a much better state. The spirit of the Bracer went to re-enter his carriage only for a hand to grasp his shoulder.

“You might want to dismiss your patronus, Harry.” Lupin said softly, a look of confusion and concern on his face.

Powel shook his head, glowering at Lupin as he did so, “Not until I know the Dementor is off of the train.”

Lupin paused for a moment, impressed by the bravery shown in wanting to protect his friends and shocked by both the sheer power radiating off the boy in front of him and the skill shown in being able to cast the patronus at such a young age. Then he nodded his understanding. “The Dementors are here on Ministry orders. They’re looking for Sirius Black.” Lupin explained, “They’ll think you’re hiding him if you won’t let them search your carriage.”

Powel scowled before whispering, “And Padfoot?”

Lupin scowled slightly, remembering the twitching mess that the black furred canine had been reduced to before the Dementor had left the room, “He’ll be fine.”

Powel scowled at the implications that his host’s Godfather wasn’t ‘fine’ now but took the hint. If he wanted Harry to remain whole and sound, he would dismiss his patronus before the Dementors came back. He waved his host’s wand and the snake he had summoned slowly faded away.

“Chocolate?” Lupin asked, tossing Powel a chocolate frog from the pile of chocolates that had been piled up on the table in Harry’s compartment while Harry had been snoozing.

Powel opened the packaging, and watched, fascinated as the chocolate frog inside tried to escape, managing to catch it before it fell on the floor and biting it’s head off.

“Feeling vindictive?” Lupin looked amused.

Powel just snorted at him, ill amused by the entire situation. When he met the idiot who had decided that letting Dementors live around children without teaching the children how to defend themselves from them was a good idea, he was going to rip the man limb from limb. Slowly. Starting with the guy’s toes.

“Stay in here with your friends.” Lupin recommended, “I’ll see what’s going on.”

Powel nodded and re-entered the compartment to find that Harry’s friends were staring at him. “Yes?” He asked grouchily, poking at Harry’s mind, trying to wake the boy up so he could go back to sleep and not getting very far.

“You lack any of the subtlety you used to have.” Luna said, causing Powel to pause midway through eating a second piece of chocolate and look at the girl properly, trying to work out whether it was Luna or Helga talking and slightly envious of Helga’s control over her subconscious illusions.

Powel opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione beat him to the punch.

“You’re not Harry, are you?” She demanded, worried about her friend.

“Are you sure she doesn’t hold Ravenclaw’s Pendant?” Luna asked, confirming in Powel’s mind that it was Helga talking.

“I don’t have a Serpent Item.” Hermione snapped, angry at being deflected. “Now answer my question!”

“No, I’m not. My name is Powel Redgrave, not Harry Potter.” Powel growled, still feeling like crap from exposure to the Dementor, both from his host’s experience and his own and not needing to go through this discussion right now. To his relief, his host finally responded to his nudging and stirred slightly.

Without a second thought Powel dropped Harry in control and retreated to the Bracer.

“Damn.” Hermione complained, “I wanted to know what that spell was he used to scare it away. Dementors don’t scare easily.”

“It’s called the Patronus Charm.” Helga explained, “It’s the only thing that can repel a Dementor. There are spells that can kill them, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten them and it looks like Powel has too.”

That appealed to Hermione’s insane research drive and she instantly started thinking through the books in the school library and the books Harry had picked up over the summer, trying to think if there was anything in the ones she had read about how to destroy a Dementor.

Ron, however, was watching Harry who was looking pale and hadn’t said a word since he’d been shoved back into control by the spirit of his Serpent Item. “You alright Harry? Lupin said chocolate helps.”

Harry nodded listlessly and picked up a chocolate bar, quickly eating it and regaining some of his colour. “Sorry if I scared anyone.”

“Did you pass out?” Helga asked him, making Harry embarrassed. Somehow it was worse a Founder knowing than it was his friends. On the plus side Powel had made sure he wasn’t a drooling idiot by taking over the moment he had passed out but it was still embarrassing.

“You’re not the first.” Helga informed him, taking his silence for the confirmation it was. “We all had issues with Dementors. Even Godric struggled when brought face to face with them. It’s why Powel was so keen on learning the Patronus charm.”

That made sense and it kind of made Harry feel better, to know that he wasn’t being judged for his inability to stand up against the creature. Then a thought hit him. “Who screamed?”

“Huh?” Ron asked.

“No one screamed, Harry.” Hermione shook her head.

“It was probably a memory.” Luna said, taking control back from the spirit of her Comb, “The Dementors can do that you know, make you relieve your worst memories.”

“But...” Harry was confused, but he didn’t say anything more, just let the chatter of his friends keep him occupied on the rest of the journey, stepping out only to change into his school robes and taking care to hide the Bracer underneath his robes, though he wasn’t sure it would be enough once he was back in the hustle and bustle of the school.

Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 21

With that last parting comment Shadi left. The moment he vanished Powel double checked that he had gone, while grumbling about stupid ghosts that were stuck in the past and didn’t know when to leave well enough alone, before switching out with Harry who glanced around the room, saw the look Ron was giving him and held up his hands in a classic ‘don’t shoot’ pose. “Not my fault.”

When Ron just continued to stare Harry lowered his hands and moved over to his friend, knocking on his head like you would a door. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Gerroff Harry.” Ron protested, backing up with a slightly irritated look. “Why was that guy in our room? And why did his face change?”

Harry shrugged. “You have more idea than I do. I wasn’t really awake for most of it. Try asking my tenant when he wakes up next.” He didn’t really fancy telling Ron that Powel wasn’t the only one who had been inside his head and that the spirit who lived inside his Bracer had just played a Shadow Game against Voldemort. Harry was just lucky in that Ron had never met Voldemort face to face so his friend hadn’t recognised the man’s voice.

Ron didn’t look happy with Harry’s answer, “Ginny remembered what You-Know-Who did while he was... you know, possessing her.”

“Ginny was in the body at the same time as him.” Harry reminded his friend, “I was in the Bracer while Powel was in my body.”

“You make that sound far too normal.” Ron grouched at him before shrugging, “I have the potions. And the suntan lotion for tomorrow.”

Harry more than happily swigged the potion, relaxing slightly as it started to take effect, easing the pain and the stiffness of his sunburnt neck and face. He carefully put the stopped back in and tucked it away in one of the drawers that he’d filled with his new clothes, just in case he needed it the next day.

The next day he learnt what Bill Weasley considered possibly the most important charm he’d learnt since coming to Egypt, a spell that could dampen the effects of the sun on a person’s skin. It hadn’t prevented Bill from tanning heavily while he’d been here, but it had prevented him from obtaining the same level of burning that his siblings had gained.

With the charm cast, Harry spent a rather enjoyable few weeks with Hermione and the Weasleys learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their ways and cultures. That the focus was mainly on the tombs was a little morbid, but considering Bill’s line of work it wasn’t completely unexpected.

Their Hogwarts letters came for them on Harry’s birthday, the day before they were due to fly back to England, and all of the students gave them at least a cursory look over before packing them away to take back with them. Hermione spent most of the day wondering what a ‘Monster Book of Monsters’ was until they came back the hotel much later in the day to find that Harry’s birthday presents had been stopped at the desk, and that the hotel staff would be grateful if they could subdue the one that kept trying to snap at people’s fingers.

Figuring that one had to have come from Hagrid, Harry collected his small number of presents and took them to the atrium where the Weasleys and Hermione were waiting with gifts of their own for him, along with a rather odd looking cake, which turned out to be a honey cake that Molly had managed to find in a local Muggle store.

Harry was right in his assumption that the biting present had come from Hagrid.

“I guess Hagrid likes the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.” Hermione commented when Harry examined his copy of the Monster Book of Monsters, carefully avoiding losing his fingers to the book monster and ending up having to have the twins sit on it to prevent it from escaping.

“Yeah, and the new teacher must be mental to issue books like this.” Ron complained as Harry tied it shut with a piece of rope that Molly conjured, looking ill amused as she did so.

“What did Luna send, Harry?” Fred or George asked, already thinking of ways that they could use the sheer destructive potential of the book and wondering if they were going to get on surprisingly well with the obviously new Professor considering that he apparently had a sense of humour, where as Kettleburn really really hadn’t.

Harry opened the present slowly, wondering what Luna had sent him considering that he hadn’t expected anything from his friend. By the time he was finished opening it he had a few booster packs and a structure deck.

Harry grinned as he read the back of the box, which was full of Winged Beasts and he put it to one side to look through properly later. Luna’s present wasn’t the only surprise. Ron had brought him a pocket-sneakoscope, which was supposed to go off if there was someone untrustworthy nearby. Considering how often people wanted to kill him, Harry considered the gift a rather useful one. Hermione’s was no less practical, but would probably get a considerable amount more use as she had given him a top of the line broomstick servicing kit that would help him keep his Nimbus 2000 in top shape.

Between the cake, the meal that they had in one of the top restaurants in the wizard owned shopping plaza, and the fact that the Weasley parents seemed determined that Harry pay for and do nothing all evening, it was the most fun that Harry had had in a long time.

The next day, however, at the airport the stress was back a hundredfold as once again Harry and Hermioe had to herd the Weasleys through the airport. It didn’t help matters that Harry was loaded down with as many trinkets as he was books, a fact that both amused and frustrated his friends, and that Hermione or Ron were not much better. If it hadn’t been for the magically expanded bags that both Harry and Hermione were carrying the family would have had to either confound the woman who weighed their bags or paid the extra fees that would have come with the excess weight they would have been carrying.

With just one day left before term started Harry realised too late that there had been something else in the envelope with the shopping list. That thing being the permission form for Hogsmead that would allow him to join the third years and above at the magical village near to Hogwarts. It was supposed to be signed by your guardian, but Vernon couldn’t sign it, Petunia wouldn’t and somehow he doubted that getting the spirit of the Bracer to sign it would count.

There was a mad rush to buy everything they needed before school started the following day and the majority of shops were closed long before they got back to the Leaky Cauldron, where Lupin was waiting for Harry in order to return ‘Padfoot’ to him.

“Lupin?” Arthur asked, shocked as he realised who Harry had gone to talk to, “It’s been a long time. What’re you doing here?”

“Returning Harry’s dog.” Lupin explained himself, smiling at the Weasley patriarch, having known the man years ago, back before the Order had dissolved after Voldemort’s death, “When I ran into my friend’s son I couldn’t help but do him a favour. How have you been?”

Harry glowered at Padfoot, who had obviously returned before they had, and became amused when the dog cowered slightly before licking his hand and whimpering. Lupin grinned slightly at the sight as the younger Weasleys spent time petting the dog, who just rolled over and took it. He had given Sirius an earful when the man had returned from Egypt the day before Harry, telling him off for taking such a big risk when it was obvious that Wormtail wouldn’t have been foolish enough to return to the Weasley household.

During the conversation between the two men, Harry overheard something interesting. He hoped he was right, since Lupin had been a friend of his father’s but it looked like it might be the first year that he might actually like his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

“I worked out an answer to Harry’s little problem too.” Lupin looked at Harry and Harry looked back, confused as to what Lupin meant by that, “He’ll be able to have both Padfoot and Hedwig with him.”

Harry blinked at him for a moment and then remembered the rule he’d been so worried about, the one that allowed students to take one pet to school only.

Hermione spoke before he could. “But I thought the students were allowed one pet and it had to be an owl, a cat or a toad. There’s nothing in the rules about dogs.”

Lupin chuckled, amused the way Hermione almost quoted the school rules words for word. “I know. But there’s also nothing in the rules about a student looking after a teacher’s pet for them. If I take Padfoot with me, he can go to stay with Harry in the Gryffindor tower every so often.”

Harry grinned, liking the plan as Ron chuckled and Hermione let out a sound that was a combination of amusement and annoyance at yet someone else who was willing to bend the rules into funny shapes. In fact Lupin was worse, since he was a teacher. He was supposed to be setting a good example.

“Thanks, Professor Lupin.” Harry grinned at the teacher to be.

Lupin just shrugged it off, though Harry thought he caught a brief glimpse of a smile on his face, and turned back to his conversation with Mr Weasley, promising to keep in touch before mentioning that he’d probably see them on the train and flooed away.

Harry found himself sharing a heavily edited tale of how he’d run into the teacher in Diagon Alley with the Weasleys as they had dinner, and found himself retelling the tale when Ron and Hermione piled into his room and demanded the truth from him. And they didn’t just mean about his meeting with Lupin.

In the end they were up till almost six in the morning, so it was an exhausted trio that piled onto the train and found an carriage that was empty except for Luna, who grinned at them but helped them put their trunks out of the way and found somewhere for Hedwig’s cage to rest and then pounced on them for information about their trip to Egypt.

Harry fell asleep midway through the conversation and didn’t wake until the train stopped with a jolt. Worried by the sudden cold and the slightly frightened look on his friends’ faces, he looked around and tried to work out where they were.

“Hogwarts already?” He asked as he got to his feet, stretching as he did so.

“No.” Hermione shook her head, looking around and trying to work out what was going as it continued to get colder and colder as a black robed figure floated outside the door to their compartment, drawing in the light from the area around it. Harry could hear a woman screaming as the door slid open and the creature entered, his world vanishing in a bright flash of green.