Scattered across his desk were enlarged images of the stone tablet, many of them with scribbled notes across them. He'd managed to translate a few words but not enough to get any clear ideas. But he was not one to do much research with books and such anyway. That's why he had a computer.

He was probably the only wizard to own one. A state-of-the-art one at that. He was quite talented with it, having taken class after class in muggle technology. He'd been searching with the aide of the computer for days now with hardly a break for sleep. But nothing had turned up yet and he was growing frustrated. It wasn't supposed to be this hard.

He cracked his knuckles and prepared a new tactic for searching. The words that he'd managed to translate were of no use on their own, but perhaps if he combined the searches something may turn up. He looked through his notes. "Pharaoh...Magic...Priest..." Darcy read through the deciphered words, looking for something that caught his eye. He stopped as he came across the work "Duel." He thought for a moment and then typed the word into his computer search engines. He scrolled down his list again. "Puzzle...Sorcerer...Monster?" He paused as he said this last one. Shrugging his shoulders, his typed it in as well and began his search. He seriously doubted anything would come of it. Needless to say, he was taken quite by surprise when his computer screen was flooded with information.

He leaned closer to the screen, squinting his eyes at it as if he wasn't sure it was there. "A game?" he muttered as he read. There were hundreds of sites with rules, statistics, strategies, and whatever else you may want to know about this "Duel Monsters." Darcy frowned. Chances were he wouldn't find anything to do with the millennium items here. He was about to close the search when he came across a link marked "KaibaCorp Technology and Gaming." Wizard or not, Darcy was still a technology buff. His curiosity got the better of him and he clicked.

The site opened to the Kaiba Corp. logo and a picture that looked oddly familiar to Darcy. It was a dragon... a white dragon. Now where...?

Darcy's jaw dropped. He dove at the stack of papers on his desk, knocking many of them onto the floor in the process. He scrambled around until he found a picture of the table that had been cropped to focus on the area just about the picture of the priest. Darcy double-taked as he looked back and forth from the photo in his hand to the logo on the computer screen. It was undeniable...they were the same.

'But...but what does that mean?!' Darcy thought. He was careful not to get his hopes up. It was probably nothing. A coincidence, that's all. But still...this was the most he had turned up so far. He needed to check out the rest of the information this site had to offer starting with its owner.

The profile for someone by the name of Seto Kaiba came up. Darcy scanned over it reading parts of it aloud to himself.

"CEO and chief inventor...Major stock holder...Avid gamer and champion...Only in high school, huh?" Darcy mumbled to himself as he continued to scroll down. Of course, there was nothing about the millennium items, which wasn't surprising.

A picture of this Seto Kaiba character was loading at the bottom of the screen. Darcy watched with growing interest as the cold blue-eyed brunette appeared. Rubbing his chin in thought, Darcy glanced at the picture from the stone tablet. "Interesting resemblance..." he muttered, eyes wandering over the image of the priest, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "Very interesting... One does wonder how someone not even a man yet could be so successful. Perhaps...someone should meet this Seto Kaiba. No doubt there is plenty to discuss."

Darcy's eyes brightened in anticipation. A short chuckle escaped him. He whistled once and the barn owl that had been quietly perched nearby fluttered over to him. Darcy pulled a roll of parchment from his desk drawer and began to furiously scribble upon it, checking something on the computer screen from time to time. Then, tying to note to the owl's leg, he opened a window, allowing the bird to take its leave. There was little worry of the bird being intercepted. After all, this was a muggle neighborhood.

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

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was never quiet and uneventful by any means, but everyone seemed to notice an increase in anticipation. Halloween was close at hand, and that was always interesting. The piles of pumpkin guts outside the greenhouses told the students that Professor Sprout was already hard at work on the decorations. But even bigger than Halloween was the upcoming Quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. With the exception of the Slytherins themselves, everyone wanted to see Gryffindor win. This was not helping to lessen the stress of Gryffindor's newest players.

No sooner had Ryou caught up with his work than more was poured on. Practices were getting, if anything, more intense. Ryou really wished that his first match wouldn't be the biggest one. If he screwed up, he would let down three quarters of the school.

Also on his mind was the mystery of what Malik had discussed with Yami Bakura. Ryou didn't like it. Not one bit. The fact that neither told him what was going on told Ryou one thing for sure: he would not approve. He vaguely wondered if he should tell Yugi to keep a lookout for trouble, but he knew he would never get the chance. He'd barely seen Yugi since they'd worked on their homework together two days before and it was already the night of the thirtieth. And even if he had, there was no way his other half was going to let him spoil the "fun." Ryou would just have to hope that everything would go all right.

Ryou yawned as he walked the corridor on his way to the Gryffindor common room after several hours of studying in the library. He was looking forward to a good night's sleep. But it seemed rare these days that Ryou got what he wanted.

"Bakura!"

Malik came jogging around a corner after apparently coming a long way, for he was out of breath. Giving himself a brief moment to regain himself, he spoke. "Bakura, I'm glad I caught you before you got away."

"Lucky me," Ryou mumbled sarcastically.

"I need to talk to you," Malik said.

"The other me?" Ryou said, crossing his arms and attempting (failing) to staring Malik down. "Look. I'm really tired, and whatever you've got planned will just have to-"

"No, I've got to talk to both of you," Malik interrupted. "And Yugi."

Ryou's expression became that of confusion. "What for?"

"I'll explain in a little while," Malik said. "Just go get Yugi. Wake him up if you have to. Then meet me up on the abandoned section of the astronomy tower. The other you knows where it is. And make sure you're not followed."

"Followed? Wha?" But Malik had already taken off, leaving one very confused Ryou in his wake. There had been something in Malik's voice that Ryou couldn't place. Anger? Worry? Wait, Malik didn't worry...did he? Whatever it was, Ryou felt sure it was no joke. He quickly made his way to the dorm to get Yugi, once again ignoring the Fat Lady's suggestion to get a haircut.

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

"What's this about Ma-Malik..." Yugi mumbled, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He did not appreciate being hauled out of bed and dragged off to the roof. Yami wasn't quite awake yet either. If he had been, he wouldn't have been nearly as polite as Yugi was about the inconvenience.

Malik shifted uneasily, glancing over his shoulder towards the door where they had all come through.

"Just who do you think would be following?" Ryou asked, for although he was sure the Egyptian had reasons, right now it just seemed ridiculous.

"I don't trust the people at this school as of late," Malik answered, still looking at the door.

"Not more Malfoy business, I hope," said Ryou, crossing his arms.

"This goes way beyond Malfoy," Malik said, finally turning from the door to face his comrades. "I got a reply from Isis this morning. About the robbery."

"And?" Ryou said, tapping his foot.

"See for yourself." Malik thrust the paper into Ryou's hands. Ryou blinked, unsure, before looking down at the letter.

"I...can't read it in this light."

Malik sighed and rolled his eyes. "Hold on..." He pulled his wand out from his pocket and tried to light it. Unfortunately, he forgot the words.

"Lumnice? Uh...Luminis? Luminous?"

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Yugi mumbled, running his hand down his face in an exasperated way. "It's Lumos! Lumos! You've been here two months, you should at least know that!"

"Give me a break! This is the first school I've been to! I'm still getting used to it," Malik defended.

"Well, do the spell already!"

"Why don't you do it if you're so smart?"

"I don't have my wand with me."

"So use mine!"

"It's not supposed to work that way!"

"Would you just-"

Yugi and Malik's argument became pointless, however, as a light appeared to their side. Not by wand, but by Bakura's glowing millennium ring. His superior expression was clear in its light. Yugi and Malik blinked repeatedly, both wondering why they hadn't thought of that.

"The word 'Duh' comes to mind," Yami Bakura said.

"... Shut up," Malik said. "Just read the letter."

Yami Bakura's eyes skimmed over the letter, looking for what Malik was talking about. As he read, the bemused look on his face disappeared, replaced by narrowed eyes and pursed lips. Without saying a word, he thrust the letter at Yugi.

"What is it?" Yugi asked, taking Yami Bakura's silence as a bad sign. He eyed the letter himself and saw what they were to be concerned about.

"They took the Tablet of the Nameless Pharaoh?" Yugi said. "But...But why? Why would the Death Eaters want that?"

"Can you think of no reason?" Malik said. "I find it to be very strange, myself. All three of us are asked to come to this school. My sister's museum is attacked. Dumbledore seems awfully curious about millennium items. They did not ask us here just for an education it seems. Someone wants what we have..."

"But why take the tablet?" Yugi asked, more than a little confused.

//To make a connection,\\ Yami said. //Someone must know of the millennium items, but not much about them. They're searching for clues, just as we were not all that long ago.\\

//What can they get from the tablet? I mean, all we learned from it was that you were a pharaoh. And a bit about Duel Monsters and the God Cards.\\

//I don't know. But I don't like it. And what I don't like even more is that this was kept secret from us...\\

//What do you mean?\\ Yugi asked.

//Like Malik said, Dumbledore was awfully curious.\\

//You don't think he-\\

//No,\\ Yami interrupted. //But I think he knew someone was looking for them. He told us when we first met that dark wizards were gaining power. These are the people he fights against. So naturally, he would want to keep what they want, namely the millennium items, out of their reach. He knew there were powerful forces out for us. He knew there was danger. And he said nothing. We're being used as pawns here...\\ Yami let it hang there.

Yugi swallowed hard. Were they really being kept in the dark on purpose? Why?

"I hate when people keep secrets from me," Malik muttered, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "I hate being misled."

"Misled?" Yugi said, turning his attention away from Yami.

"Dumbledore. All the teachers. Everybody. Acting like they were out for our best interests." Malik didn't make eye contact as he spoke and it made Yugi nervous. "They brought us here for they're own reasons."

"Yami thinks that, too," Yugi said, frowning. "But...I hate to think that was all. I mean, they must have had some reason to not tell us some things. Dumbledore doesn't strike me as the kind of person to keep secrets unless he thought it was for the best... Right?"

"Rationalize all you want, Yugi," Malik said. "Be naïve if you want to. But I think I'll be more careful about who I trust around here. And I suggest you do the same. We have new enemies now."

"But..." Yugi didn't know what to add. Wizards stealing clues about the millennium items. Why would wizards want them anyway? Didn't they have more than enough power already? Why?

Yugi couldn't help but notice that somebody was being awfully quiet. He turned his attention to Bakura. "What's your take on this?" Yugi had been expecting to see Yami Bakura, but it was Ryou standing beside him instead. He blinked in slight confusion. "He retreated already?" Yugi asked before he could catch himself.

Rather than look offended, Ryou looked about nervously. "I think he's mad...He's quiet. That usually means he's mad."

"Well, we know what his opinion is," Malik said, letting his hands fall at his side.

"What about you, Bakura?" Yugi asked. "What do you think?"

Ryou hesitated as if contemplating what he was going to say. "I really don't want to think that I came halfway around the globe just to be sucked into more millennium item nonsense," he said finally. "There is obviously somebody in the wizarding world who has taken an interest in them..." He paused again, biting his lip before continuing. "But I think I still trust Dumbledore and his decisions. If he kept secrets from us, I'm sure it's because he thought it was best. He does know more about the wizarding world than we do. I trust his judgment." Ryou sighed. "And the other me must think I'm being an idiot, because he just cut me off completely."

"It's not stupid to want to trust," Yugi said. He was glad Ryou felt the same way he did. Malik seemed to think differently.

"Please do not tell me I'm the only one who sees the danger in this!" he exclaimed. "Or maybe it's just because they already found my home. How long before they connect the millennium items to my sister and me? How long before they attack again? With Isis and Rishid defenseless? And try not to forget, Yugi... Your face is carved into that stone."

Yugi inhaled deeply and let it out in one long, drawn out breath. "I know," he said. "I'm not saying we should do nothing. I'm just saying that we shouldn't confuse our enemies with those who may very well be our allies."

"And vise versa..." Malik muttered. Yugi decided to let that go.

"Send a letter to Isis and advise her and Rishid to get out of Egypt, if you're worried." Yugi said, trying to be helpful. "I'll write Grampa in the morning."

"I'm one step ahead of you," Malik answered. "I wrote to her as soon as I read this letter. I told her now would be a good time to schedule that exhibition to the States."

"Is there any mention of the ring in that tablet?" Ryou asked. Malik and Yugi both looked at him like he should know. Ryou blushed under the attention. "I meant to see it but the exhibit left Japan before I ever got the chance. I didn't have much in the way of spare time during the whole Battle City thing."

Yugi and Malik both looked away so as not to show any pity. Ryou had been either possessed or unconscious during the whole event. Malik also knew that Yami Bakura had seen the tablet (and had scared the life out of Isis as well), but he chose not to comment on this. "Well?" Ryou asked after the other two had been silent for an uncomfortably long time.

"No," Malik answered finally. "There isn't much information on the ring anywhere. That's why we don't...that's why we don't know much about your other half."

"Oh..." Ryou said, lowering his gaze. "I guess it would be against the Egyptian belief to immortalize someone like him by writing about him..."

There was an awkward silence when neither Yugi nor Malik knew what to say. Ryou sighed and spoke to end it. "So what now?"

"I don't think there's any immediate danger here for us," Yugi said. "Yami agrees. We're fine for now. We can plan a next step when we find out more."

"And who would we find out more from?" Malik said. "Dumbledore? Even if he does prove to be one our side, he won't be useful. What's he going to tell us to do? Learn some spell?"

"Well, what can be done short of disposing of every single Death Eater?" Ryou said. "And we can't hide from them forever, either. What do we do?"

"Do we wait for them to make the first move?" Malik asked. "We don't know what they're capable of, and they probably don't know what we're capable of. There's a lot of guessing there. I don't like it one bit."

"Do you expect us to launch an attack or something?" Yugi said. "We don't even know where they are. I think the best thing we can do is wait. Be prepared...but wait."

"I can live with that," Ryou agreed. "Malik?"

Malik huffed a bit but nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah. We'll just keep an eye out for the time being. I don't know what else we could do."

"Fine. Then it's agreed," Yugi said. "Now, can we all go back to bed? It's cold out here and you guys have me out in my pajamas."

"Call it revenge for you using the Bloody Baron as my alarm clock," Malik said in an all too serious tone that could only mean he was joking. Yugi smiled.

"We'll just wait and see," he said as they all started walking back inside. "Who knows? There may be something in that book we found that we can use."

Ryou stopped short. "Book?" he asked, utterly confused. Malik and Yugi rolled their eyes in unison. Ryou was falling behind on current events.

After explaining how they found the book to the baffled Ryou, they all headed inside and towards their dorm rooms. At the portrait hole of the Fat Lady, Yugi entered first, yawning and scratching the back of his head sleepily. Ryou and Malik nodded their goodnights, but as Malik was walking away, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him backwards, speaking softly in his ear. He recognized the hand as Ryou's. And the voice as Yami Bakura's.

"These resent events change nothing of our plans," Yami Bakura whispered. "Halloween will go as we said. I need to blow off some steam against these wizards, now, and I can't think of a better way..."

Malik nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face. No better way indeed...

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

The morning of October the thirty-first was uncharacteristically bright and sunny with a cool wind blowing in from the west. Students pilled into the Great Hall one after another for their morning meal. Already, the ceiling was decorated with floating jack-o-lanterns, black and orange streamers, and a colony of live bats, the latter of which was making the less accustomed students hunch protectively over their plates to guard their food from anything that might fall.

The usual gang of Gryffindors (plus one Slytherin) was gathered at their table. Ryou seemed unusually quiet and reserved, as if deep in concentration. Yugi was concentrating, too. But his attention was focused solely on the letter he was writing to his Grandfather (Ryou would translate for him later). Every once in a while, a spoonful of cereal found its way to his mouth or he would add to the conversation, but his eyes never wavered from his parchment.

Malik was sitting beside Ryou and would occasionally whisper to him. Ryou replied with a shake or nod of his head, but said nothing.

"So what's the deal with Halloween, here?" Yugi asked as his hand sped across his letter.

Ron shrugged. "We're wizards and witches, so naturally Halloween has some significance. But really, it's mostly just the feast. We don't even get out of classes early."

Hermione looked disapprovingly at Ron. "Really, one would thing you would have more respect for Halloween than that," she scolded.

Ron shrugged again. "So long as I eat, I'm happy." Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes.

Even if some of the students didn't hold Halloween higher than any other holiday, the teachers showed some recognition of the day. In Transfiguration, the more advanced students practiced turning spider webs into handkerchiefs (with Ron feeling slightly uncomfortable). Yugi and Ryou were working on turning apples into pumpkins, with extra points it the pumpkins were carved. When Ryou didn't complain once about the pointlessness of the spell (as he had for every other Transfiguration class as soon as McGonagall was out of range), Yugi knew something was up.

"Why have you been so quiet today," he asked quietly.

Ryou shook his head slightly as if taken off guard by the question. "Thinking is all," he answered.

"About the game this weekend?"

Ryou hesitated. "Yeah..." he muttered. "That's right."

"You shouldn't worry about it," Yugi advised. "You don't want to psyche yourself out."

Ryou smiled warmly down at Yugi. "I'm not worried. Just have a lot to think about."

They went back to their work, but Yugi couldn't help but think there was something a bit...off. Something not quite right.

Charms class quickly took Yugi's mind off of Ryou. Rather than keeping them in the classroom, Professor Flitwick brought them to the Great Hall to help him finish decorating for the feast. The class spent the better part of an hour charming various signs of the day to hover about the ceiling.

Classes broke for lunch and then it was outside for Care of Magical Creatures. By now, the Irish Pygmies were entering adolescence, which was making them especially temperamental.

"Now, be sure to keep yer patience with 'em," Hagrid instructed. "You've got to be gentle, but firm."

Malfoy's dragon still had a healthy dislike for him and it wasn't making things easy. If anything, the Pygmy had gotten faster and stronger. Malfoy, never being one to knowingly put himself in danger, allowed his goons to do the dirty work while he merely looked around. He caught Ryou staring strangely at him out of the corner of his eye. He turned and gave him a dirty look. Ryou didn't flinch. It was unsettling. His unblinking expression seemed to stare through Malfoy rather than at him. Unable to take it any longer, Malfoy glared. "What are you looking at?" he muttered.

Ryou blinked like he was only just noticing that Malfoy was there. "They hover about you," he said.

"Who?" Malfoy asked as if he didn't care to know.

"The dead," Ryou answered simply.

Malfoy scoffed. "Please. You'll have to do better than that if your trying to get to me. With all the ghosts floating around this school, I hardly find them frightening."

Ryou slowly shook his head. "They're not the same."

"Oh, yeah?" Malfoy asked, a look of superiority planted on his face. "I don't see anything. And I don't believe you do, either."

"You'll know before the night is over."

"Is that a threat?" Malfoy accused.

A smile spread slowly across Ryou's face. "Perhaps..." he said. Malik grinned as he watched them out of the corner of his gaze.

Malfoy shook his head. "I'm not afraid of scary stories. You'll have to come up with another one if you want to get to me."

"Who's telling stories?" Ryou asked. "Vengeful spirits have been following you. And today they are strong. Who am I to say why they are so angry?"

Malfoy showed signs of nervousness for a brief moment before masking it again. "Are you expecting me to believe that you can all of a sudden see this?"

"I've seen them before," Ryou said. "But they've never been this well defined. The day gives them strength. A wandering restless spirit is never more powerful than Halloween, when the barrier of life and death is at its thinnest. If I were you, I'd be careful. They may be looking for company."

Malfoy scoffed again, appearing to dismiss the whole idea. He was, however, visibly more on edge through the rest of Care of Magical Creatures.

Meanwhile, Yugi was far too busy chasing his Irish Pygmy around the grounds to notice the conversation between Ryou and Malfoy. Or the satisfied look on Malik's face.

The wind picked up as the day grew darker and Halloween night approached. Students began filing in the Great Hall for the feast, Yugi being among the first. Though practically every meal was a feast at Hogwarts to him, he was looking forward to seeing what made this one special.

In the lower levels of the dungeons, Malfoy and his goons were taking their merry old time getting up to the celebrations. Malfoy didn't really want to go at all. For some reason, he wasn't in the mood to celebrate Halloween. He knew Bakura would try something at the feast. He just knew it. He wasn't going to walk right into a trap. But Crabbe and Goyle were highly fond of the feast, and they weren't happy with Malfoy's hesitance.

"If we don't hurry, the feast will start without us," Goyle whined. Crabbe nodded his agreement.

"Only you would complain about that," Malfoy scolded. "All you two think about is food. It's a feast, for crying out loud! They'll be plenty for you whether you're on time or not."

"They'll take away house points if we're late," Crabbe piped in.

"Like that matters?" Malfoy shot back. "After we slaughter Gryffindor in this weekend's match we'll have more than enough house points to make up for it. Or don't you have confidence in your team's abilities?"

Crabbe in Goyle blinked in response. Either because they didn't know how to answer, or Malfoy had used too many big words and lost them somewhere. Malfoy clenched his teeth and raised his hands as if he were going to hit his associates. "Fine! Hurry off to the feast! You two couldn't possibly stand to miss a meal, after all!" Crabbe and Goyle didn't stick around to defend themselves. Given permission to leave, they took advantage of it and were out of sight in moments.

Malfoy sighed as he found himself alone. Or so he thought. Turning, he headed back towards the dorm. If Snape asked anything of his absence from the feast, he would tell him he was sick. Snape wouldn't question him.

He turned down a hallway that seemed... different somehow. He thought for a moment he had gone the wrong way, but no. What was it about this hall? It was...darker. Yeah, that was it. 'One of the torches must be out,' Malfoy told himself. 'I'm being paranoid. I can't let that white-haired freak get to me.' But...it was colder, too... even for a dungeon.

Malfoy came to a spot where the difference was more tangible. There was a new portrait of a wealthy-looking gentleman on his left. On his right was a new suit of armor. This was not so odd. Things had a habit of moving around in Hogwarts, doors, staircases, rooms... paintings and armor was no exception. But again, there was something different. The painting was amazingly still for a Hogwarts portrait. And the suit of armor had no helmet. It was unsettling.

'I'm being stupid,' Malfoy mentally told himself. 'They're just harmless decorations. Nothing weird about them.' He chuckled out loud at himself. He knocked on the frame of the painting as if to say "Ha, ha, you don't scare me." He half expected the inhabitant to scold him for. He did not, however, expect it to fall.

He jumped backwards to avoid it, letting a short yelp escape him. The portrait hit the floor face-down, a cloud of dust issuing forth from it. Malfoy was breathing heavily from the shock. He placed a hand on his chest, willing his heart to stop beating so fast. He mentally scolded himself for being so scared. It was only a painting.

It seemed to be getting darker. Malfoy didn't like it one bit. It was best to go. But he soon found himself unable. His robes were caught on something. Malfoy looked to find that he was held firmly in place by the grip the suit of armor had on his robes. It was no accident or coincidence. The fingers of the armor were tightly clenched around the cloth.

Malfoy began to panic. He tugged the robes in an attempt to free himself, finally tearing loose. Fragments of black cloth still hung from the armor's fingers. The suits of armor at Hogwarts have been known to change their position when no one was looking, but he'd never seen one do this. His expression was a mixture of horror and resentment as he eyed the armor. He backed up until his back was pressed against the wall and as he did, he realized something else was wrong. What happened to the painting that had been on the floor? Malfoy looked up and saw that it was back on the wall where it had been originally. As he stared, he saw the first signs of movement from it. He screamed.

A horrible creature appeared to pop out of the picture. Jagged teeth, clawed hands, and a ghostly howl that chilled Malfoy's bones. The monster made a grab for Malfoy and the jumped back and kept moving, eager to put distance between himself and the haunted portrait. He backed right into the suit of armor and panic gripped him again. He saw a sword being held by the headless suit of armor. A sword that was being held at ready just above Malfoy's head. The boy threw himself to the floor in an attempt to dodge just as the sword came down, cracking the stone floor where Malfoy had just been seconds before. Malfoy scooted away, desperate to get away from the possessed décor.

The suit of armor did not stop. It turned towards Malfoy and took a slow step forward. The haunted painting levitated off the wall and faced him as well, the monster snarling as it moved closer. Malfoy whimpered in terror, fighting to make his body stop shaking long enough for him to stand. He finally got to his feet and started running towards the safety of the Great Hall.

All was dark before him, but he took no notice this time. His eyes were shut tight. He didn't want to see any more. He had to get away from those monsters. Had to tell everyone about them so that they could do something about it. This school wasn't supposed to be haunted by uncontrolled ghosts.

Malfoy opened his eyes to see how far he had gone and regretted it the moment his did. The darkness before him was complete. Not a speck of light shown. And then he heard a terrifying shriek from within and horrible, twisted, ghostly white apparitions came forth at him. He screamed and did an immediate about-face, running back in the direction of the dorm rooms. The headless armor and the possessed portrait were ahead of him, but he shut his eyes and ran between them. He heard the monster of the painting howl at him and he felt the wind as the sword of the suit of armor just missed him but he kept running and did not stop until his was safe in his dorm with the covers wrapped around him, shivering and whimpering.

Back in the hallway, the darkness cleared. The portrait, the armor, and the apparitions disappeared with it. And standing there where the darkness had once been were two laughing teenage boys, one with white hair, one with blonde.

"I did warn him," Yami Bakura said as he slipped a hand of cards back into his deck. "I told him to watch out for vengeful spirits. I just didn't tell him it was me."

"That was great," Malik said as soon as he caught his breath and wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "I can't think of anyone more deserving of terror inspired by your deck, Bakura."

"Indeed," Yami Bakura said with a nod. "That was well worth all the scolding I will get from Ryou and the Pharaoh later. Once they figure it out, that is. It shouldn't take Ryou long seeing as he's completely missed Halloween. But that was quite satisfying."

"Your deck is the best when it comes to freaking somebody out," Malik commented as they turned toward the Great Hall.

"What are you talking about? My deck is the best when it comes to anything," Yami Bakura replied.

"I'd have to argue and say that I've had better decks," Malik said with a smirk.

"Yeah, when you had Ra, maybe. And even then, you had more luck than skill."

"You wish!" Malik shot back.

They argued all the way to the Great Hall where their tardiness was noticed, but not dwelled upon. In the Slytherin dorm, Malfoy continued to shake and shiver.
 
 

Thanks to those who pointed out the fic that was so similar to mine. The authoress has taken notice of it and it will (and may already have been) changed. My eternal thanks to the loyal.

Have not forgotten Malik's b-day. It's in December, not October. Seto's is in October.

This chapter is dedicated to my adopted Yami, Neko-chan. For her birthday (though I'm late. *sighs*) and for all the Hell I'm putting her through with my requested fic. (*snickerfit* Luv ya, Neko-chan!) Be grateful to her. Were it not for her, this chapter would have taken even LONGER!

There you go! You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find the time to work on this and even now, I should really be working on my cosplay stuff instead. If anyone's going to Numa rei no con in New Orleans next weekend, look me up! I'll be the dork in the Bakura costume hanging around with another dork in a Malik costume who will be making constant Rod jokes. Til next time! (and no, I don't know when that will be, but I'll try to not take as long. Keyword: Try.)