"I saw what you did," Yugi said to Yami Bakura as everyone headed back toward the castle for lunch, Malik off to the side by himself. "You really shouldn't get involved in Malik's little squabbles with that Malfoy. You're going to get Bakura expelled."

"Ryou's not going to get expelled. No one saw me but you. I know what I'm doing."

"Why did you do it?"

Yami Bakura closed his eyes and smirked in a bemused sort of way as he walked. "Just felt like getting in on the chaos. That, and Ryou asked me to."

"He asked you to?" Yugi was shocked.

"He's afraid of Malik getting pushed too far. Asked me this morning to help him out every once in a while after he saw how he and Malfoy were fighting, just so Malik knows someone's got his back." Yami Bakura grinned. "Plus it's not everyday Ryou asks me cause trouble."

Yugi shook his head but smiled. At least Ryou wasn't going to be caught off guard by Yami Bakura's interruption.

"Well, I'll get back to my soul room now, but you'll be seeing me again later," Yami Bakura said. The only sign that the ring activated was a faint glow about Bakura's neck, for the ring was concealed under his robes. Ryou had been aware the whole time, so he was not taken by surprise. Yugi looked at him and seemed impressed.

"Well," Ryou said scratching his head and blushing, "I just wanted to take some precautions, you know? I remembered how Rishid kept Malik under control just by being there for him."

"It's a good idea," Yugi agreed. "I just hope you put limits on the amount of trouble he can cause."

"I said he couldn't kill anybody or cause permanent damage, either purposely or inadvertently. Or get me expelled. So basically, he has free range, so long as he doesn't get caught."

Everyone trudged up to the castle for lunch. Malik didn't pause at Gryffindor table this time. He had been glad for the assistance at the time, but now he was feeling like Yami Bakura had interfered. Like he couldn't fight his own battles. He wanted to know why Yami Bakura got involved, but he wasn't going to ask in front of everybody. He'd wait.

The students sat down to lunch. Harry and company felt a bit awkward around Ryou. They'd seen him take Malfoy getting in his face without flinching. And they suspected he really had turned the dragon loose. But now he was so good-natured and friendly, laughing and joking with everybody. Their suspicions were soon forgotten.

Half-way through lunch, Nightshade the raven flew in and dropped a letter on Ryou's plate. She then perched on his shoulder and he fed her a cracker from his lunch. "See?" Ryou said. "Every bit as good as an owl."

"What is it?"

Ryou opened it and examined the contents. "Just a card from Father."

"Oh, that's right! Your birthday, I forgot. I'm sorry," Yugi apologized. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

"It's your birthday, really?" Hermione asked. Ryou nodded. "Well, happy birthday!" Ron and Harry gave their good wishes as well.

"Thank you."

"Nightshade's pretty good if she was able to find your father," Yugi observed.

"Yeah, she scared the life out of him as well," Ryou said through a smile as he read the card and attached letter. "It took ten minute of her flying around his head before he realized that she was just trying to give him the letter I sent."

"Can I borrow her to send a letter to Grampa and the guys?"

"Sure."

Their conversation was then interrupted by Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter, I've been asked to inform you to report to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom."

"Now? What for?"

"I'm sure I don't know. I'm simply delivering a message, but I believe Professor White wishes to speak to you."

Harry did as he was told and left the Great Hall. 'Why on earth would the teacher want to speak to me alone before class?' Harry wondered. He couldn't help but be suspicious. Of his last four Defense against the Dark Arts teachers, two had tried to kill him, and one tried to erase him memory. He hesitated outside the classroom door.

"Please come in, Harry," came a voice from the other side. Harry gulped and entered.

The professor was standing with his back to him. He was tall, at least six feet. His blonde hair was scruffy and looked as if it had never been exposed to a hairbrush. When he turned around, Harry saw an un-kept mustache, also blonde. But the eyes... There was something about the eyes.

"It's nice to see you, Harry," Professor White said. His voice was low, almost at a whisper, but there was something familiar about it, too.

"Um, nice to meet you, too?" Harry said cautiously.

"If you don't recognize me, then I know that this is a pretty good disguise," the professor said with a laugh. It was the laugh that gave him away.

"Sirius! I-I don't believe it!"

"Shhhh," Sirius hushed. "I'm undercover."

"Why?"

"Times are bad. Dumbledore wanted somebody close to you this year. The parents might have a problem with a convicted murderer teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, so meet Professor Robert White! Snape's been making me a special potion to alter my appearance, though I think he did it on purpose to make me as ugly as possible."

"W-why didn't you just hide out like last year? It's too dangerous here. What if you're caught?"

"Only a few members of the staff know. Hagrid doesn't even know, just in case he gets talkative while drinking again. Besides, I can only keep so close a watch from Hogsmeade. And this way, I can help you prepare in case you need to defend yourself. I can give you private lessons. More advanced defenses."

"Th-that's great!" Harry stammered excitedly. This was going to be the first time that he had real family close by without having to worry about being caught.

"I wish it were all a joyous occasion," Sirius said solemnly. "But this is important training. We need to get right to work."

"Alright. Where do we begin?"

"I think we should start with something you should know, but may need some refreshing on. You had a lot of trouble with this a couple years ago."

"Dementors?"

"Bingo. The ministry is doing everything they can to keep them on our side. But they won't be able to hold the alliance with the promise of so much fear and despair for the dementors to feed on if they join Voldemort. So..." Sirius stood and led Harry over to a cabinet in the corner. "I've arranged for a substitute. We have a little time to get started before class."

"Boggart in the closet?"

"Boggart in the closet."

....................................

"You!"

Down in the Great Hall, half the Gryffindor table jumped at the poisonous sound of Snape's voice. He was on the warpath again. Cautious eyes turned to see who was being addressed.

"You," Snape said again, as he approached the section where Yugi, Ryou, Ron and Hermione were sitting. His target was made obvious as he seemed to hover over Ryou.

Ryou gulped. "Y-yes?"

"Am I to understand that there was a problem between you and one of my students during your last class?"

"N-no, sir. It was a s-simple misunderstanding," Ryou stammered. "I did nothing wrong."

"That's not the way I hear it," Snape snapped.

"Uh, sir," Hermione said, coming to the rescue. "Hagrid handled it outside, and he determined that it was an accident and not Bakura's fault. One of the Irish Pygmies just got loose."

"Things like that don't just happen, Miss Granger," Snape said dangerously. But he couldn't challenge the authority of another teacher, even if it was Hagrid, if he didn't have proof against their ruling, and Hermione knew this.

"I shall be watching you, boy," Snape hissed. "In the meantime, deliver this to Professor White in Defense against the Dark Arts." He handed Ryou a flask.

"I-I'm going there next, sir. I'll just take it with me when I go."

"Now, Mr. Bakura."

"But I don't know where the classroom is!" Ryou started to argue, but it was too late. Snape had turned and walked away.

"It's okay, you can't miss it," Ron said. "It's not far from the common room. You know how to get there, right?" Ryou nodded. "You just go a little past the painting of the Fat Lady. It's the classroom next to the statue of Haggard the Humble. Easy to find."

"A-alright..."

"You want me to go with you, Bakura?" Yugi offered.

"No, that's alright. I'll be fine. You finish eating. I'll be fine."

Ryou made his way slowly out of the Great Hall. He had a bad feeling about this. But Harry HAD just gone there himself, so he supposed it would be alright. He walked past the Fat Lady, as instructed, and soon spotted the statue. There was no question that he was at the correct room. "Professor R. White" was on a sign beside the door. Ryou knocked softly on the door, hoping not to disturb the teacher. Ryou heard a voice inside. He hesitated. Was he being told to enter? He wasn't sure. The door was solid with no windows. He couldn't make out what was being said. He heard the voice again, a bit louder, but he was still unable to clearly make out the words. He thought it said "come in," so he took a deep breath and stepped inside...

................................

"Are you ready, Harry?" Harry nodded. Sirius was about to open the cabinet containing the boggart, but paused. "Did you hear something?"

"No," replied Harry, shaking his head.

Sirius shrugged it off, assuming he had been imagining it. He opened the cabinet door and unleashed the boggart, which transformed into a dementor as soon as it was released. The room immediately went cold. Harry tensed up in preparation. The dementor made its way slowly to Harry's corner of the room.

"Don't wait too long Harry," Sirius warned, "it's coming."

Mere seconds later, the heavy door to the room opened, startling all in the room, including the boggart.

"Excuse me, Professor," said Ryou as he walked in, "but I was told...to..." Ryou went silent as he looked up. At first, he saw a hooded figure that looked like Death itself, but then...

Harry and Sirius had no time to react. The boggart was quicker to recover from Ryou's sudden appearance then they were. Before their eyes, the boggart turned its attention from Harry to Ryou, changing its form to suit its new target. Harry and Sirius were having a difficult time processing what they were seeing. The boggart had apparently turned... into Ryou...

Ryou's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped at the figure that loomed before him. That familiar gaze, that sadistic sneer... He gasped as it stepped toward him. Ryou backed up until his back was pressed against the wall behind him. The flask fell from his hand and clattered to the floor.

"You've had too much freedom... Perhaps it is time I reminded you who is in charge, my landlord..."

The room went dark around them. The darkness of the shadow realm. Fear took hold of Ryou. His legs could no longer hold him and he sank to the floor, trembling. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. The figure of Yami Bakura laughed maniacally. "No... no, you promised..." Ryou pleaded.

<RYOU!!! Pull yourself together! That's not me!>

Ryou could not hear the voice trying to calm him. He was near hysterics, trying desperately to block out what he was seeing, what he was hearing. He shut his eyes tight and covered his head with his hands. "No..." he repeated. "Not again... Not again!"

From inside his soul room, the real Yami Bakura could not understand what was going on. Something that looked just like him seemed to be on the verge of attacking Ryou, and what it said, how it acted, was hauntingly familiar. But when he tried to assume control so he could do something about, he found he couldn't. Ryou had all his defenses up, blocking everything out, including him. Yami Bakura could penetrate the defenses, but it would take a lot out of both of them. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Harry! Go take care of him! I'll distract the boggart!" Sirius yelled.

Harry rushed to Ryou's side and Sirius threw himself between them and the boggart. "Riddikulus!" Sirius hollered, pointing his wand at the boggart. There was a flash of light and smoke as Sirius worked to herd the boggart back into the cabinet. The darkness that surrounded them disappeared.

"Bakura! Bakura, calm down," Harry said, kneeling besides the shaking Ryou. "Whatever that was, it was an illusion! It wasn't real. It's was a boggart! It changes into whatever scares you most." Ryou still wasn't listening. He whimpered slightly taking raspy breaths. "Look! It's gone!" Harry tried again. He placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Ryou jumped at the sudden touch, finally looking up. His eyes darted about. There was no one in the room but Harry, the professor, and himself. "Bakura," Harry began again, "It was just an illusion. It's called a boggart; it changes into what scares you as a defense. That's all. Relax."

"It was... not real..." Ryou said between breaths.

"Right..." Harry said, patting him on the back.

Ryou closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. "I'm fine now, thanks... Just...just scared me is all. Sorry."

"No need to apologize," the professor said as he walked behind his desk and reached inside a drawer. He pulled out a large bar of chocolate and walked over to where Harry was crouching beside Ryou. "That's what the boggart does. It's perfectly natural to react to it the way you did. No shame in it. Here." He broke off a large piece of the chocolate and offered it to Ryou. Ryou shook his head and waved away the candy. He didn't feel like he could eat anything. "I insist," Sirius said. "It will make you feel better."

Ryou took the chocolate, but didn't eat it. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I knocked. I thought I heard you tell me to come in."

"A mistake is all. It happens. What did you need?"

Ryou motioned to the forgotten flask on the floor besides him. "Professor Snape told me to bring that up to you. I had to come here for class anyway."

Sirius nodded. "Thank you. I was waiting for that. Why don't you walk to the bathroom down the hall and wash your face? And eat that chocolate, too. Harry, would you take him?"

"Sure, Si-, I mean, Professor." Harry stood and helped Ryou to his feet.

"You're one of the new students, right?" Sirius asked. "One of the late ones?" Ryou nodded. "Snape should have known better than to send you to make a delivery," Sirius muttered. "It will be okay if you are a few minutes late for class."

"Thank you, Professor."

Harry led Ryou to the boys' bathroom where Ryou preceded to wash with cold water. He remained silent, lost in his own thoughts. The silence made Harry uncomfortable. "It's no big deal," Harry said, trying to ease his own discomfort as well as Ryou's. "I fainted the first time I met up with a boggart, and I knew what it was going to do."

"It's not really that..." said Ryou. He gazed at his reflection in the mirror above the sink.

"Is it what it turned into?" asked Harry. Ryou hesitated. "Who was it? Brother? Cousin?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

Harry frowned. "Alright."

"And please don't tell anyone else either. It's... personal."

Harry sighed, but nodded. "Fine then. Everyone has their secrets."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. Really. I'm fine now. If you just give me a minute, I'll go back to class. You can go."

"Well...if you think you're alright."

"Just need to collect my thoughts."

"Okay... I'll tell the professor you'll be along."

Harry left and the door closed behind him. Ryou stared at his reflection again. <You've been awful quiet,> he thought. There was no answer. <What's wrong? I know you're awake.>

<I didn't realize you were still that scared of me...>

It took a few moments for Ryou to process what he'd just heard. <It wasn't you. Not really.>

<It said some of the same things I've said to you. It looked just like me. And you were told that...that thing turns into whatever scares you. I see no other explanation.>

<That's not it at all!> Ryou said. <It's how you used to be. That was the worst time of my life. I couldn't trust you at all. My friends were in danger. You scared me! It's true! You did! But that was then. You can't say that I'm not justified in being scared of ever having to face that again. But things are different now. You're different.>

<But you're still afraid that it will happen again.>

<Nothing is predictable. I've come to the realization that anything can happen. Plus, I've never been an optimist, so I can easily think of the worst possible thing that can happen. And you going back to the way you were is the worst thing I can imagine.>

<You believed it was me. You thought that thing was really me.>

<I wasn't exactly expecting to be confronted by that when I walked through the door. It took me by surprise. How was I supposed to react? It appeared to summon the shadow realm and everything. How would you have reacted? Please don't get defensive.>

<... You better get to class.>

<You alright?>

<Yes, now go.>

Ryou felt somewhat better, though it wouldn't be easy having Harry and the Professor believing him to be afraid of a twin or something. If Hogwarts had a counselor, he was sure one of them would be making an appointment for him before the end of the week. He stuffed the piece of chocolate he had almost forgotten about into his mouth. It filled him with a sort of warmness. He could hear students filing past the bathroom door on their way to class. He thought he had better do the same.

Meanwhile, in his soul room, Yami Bakura sat, deep in though. Every time he thought he and Ryou were at an understanding, something like this happened. He shook his head. Why did it bother him so? He wouldn't say he was ashamed of the way he used to be, but he wasn't proud of it, either. Gods, he hated having to think this much.

He sighed. How would he have reacted? What would he have seen? He couldn't think of anything that really scared him. Except... Well, he was sure he wouldn't have reacted the same way Ryou would have. He was sure he would have known it was an illusion. Ryou was always the more gullible of the two, so Yami Bakura supposed he could be understanding. It was easier to just put the whole thing aside than have to worry about it, anyway.

...................................

Defense against the Dark Arts was more of a review class the first day for all except Yugi and Ryou. Ryou was eager to get his mind off of other things and quickly absorbed himself with everything Professor White had to say. He and Yugi wrote down note after note, for in their experience, refresher classes were always followed by a pop quiz. But, lucky for them, they escaped class without one. Ryou was glad to have the class over. Professor White kept giving him an odd glance every once in a while.

Classes were over for the day, and there was not any homework yet. This meant they had the afternoon and evening free. Or, more specifically, this meant their Yami's would be free. It was only fair, after all. Yugi and Ryou went to their room to put away their books. Ryou had decided not to tell Yugi about what had happened earlier, as it would only add to his friend's worries, and he didn't think anything would come of it anyway. When they returned to the common room, there was a noticeable change in their personalities.

"Got your deck?" Yami asked Yami Bakura.

"Not now."

"What do you mean 'not now'?! You can't turn down a challenge!"

"I just did. Go bug the mortals. I'm going for a walk."

"Coward..."

Yami Bakura ignored him and left the common room. Yami, with nothing better to do, wandered over to where Harry and Ron were talking and Hermione was busy scribbling on a piece of parchment. How she managed to find some work when they weren't even given any was a mystery to all of them.

"Up for chess, Harry?" Ron said in a bored manner.

"Naw. I don't feel like getting my butt kicked this afternoon."

"I'll play!" Yami offered, trying not to sound to enthusiastic, but failing.

"Alright," Ron said. "A new challenger. Borrow Harry's pieces and set 'em up!"