Clanverse: unused part

“Harry.”

Harry frowned and leant over the sofa, where he was watching an old fantasy movie, to look at his link partners as they entered the room, concerned by the Pharaoh’s tone of voice. “What’s wrong Atem?”

“We need to talk.” Yugi sat down next to him with a sigh, “And you’re probably not going to like what we have to say.”

“What’s happened?” Harry got to his feet quickly, “Who’s hurt?”

“No one.” Yugi reassured him quickly. “Harry, no one’s hurt... not yet.”

“What’s going on?” Harry sat down, looking from Yugi to Atem, who was settling into one of the chairs.

“Harry, we can’t go back to Hogwarts.” Yugi dove right in. “Atem and I that is.”

“What? Why?” Harry asked, confused, as he’d assumed that they’d be returning to the school after the Summer break was over.

“We spoke with Seto today.” Atem answered, “And it turns out that you and Mai weren’t the only ones who gained the ability to summon Duel Monsters.”

“Oh.” Harry kind of worked out where the conversation was heading, “And you and Yugi need to be around to help new summoners or stop anyone using their powers for the wrong reasons.”

“Stop anyone else using their powers for the wrong reasons.” Atem corrected.

“Damn.” Harry growled. “How did they stop them?”

“Seto dealt with the first one, but we were the ones who got the Shadows released, so it’s our responsibility to deal with these kind of issues.” Yugi sighed. “We can’t do that in Hogwarts.”

“Then we’re not going back?” Harry asked.

“We didn’t say you had to give it up.” Yugi protested.

“I’m not living in England if you guys are going to be in Japan.” Harry scowled at him, having been through being in different countries thing before and having hated every minute of it.

“Sirius won’t want you to pull out of Hogwarts, just because we left.”

“Seto’s still offering tutors, isn’t he?”

“He did mention that he’d provide tutors for us and anyone else who chose to stay behind and help us.” Yugi nodded.

“I should stay. I can help out with any problems, or keep on top of the paperwork. We were having enough trouble with Industrial Illusions, even without this, you need me!”

“Sirius has the final say. It’s not our decision to make.” Atem replied.

“What about Hermione and the others?”

“Joey’s coming over, we’re going to explain the situation, but he’ll probably want to be here, helping us and close to his sister, rather than in England.” Yugi replied, “I don’t know what Hermione, Ron and the others will want to do. We were going to phone around, let everyone know what’s happening. Seto did mention something about dentists, but I don’t know what he’s up to.” Yugi answered; more uncertain then Harry had seen him since first year.

The doorbell went.

“That can’t be Joey already.” Harry frowned.

“Atem said it was important.” Yugi disagreed with him, “Joey would have assumed there was trouble and come back as quickly as possible.”

“It is important.” The Pharaoh didn’t look abashed when Yugi half glowered at him as he darted downstairs.

“Harry.” Joey nodded as he entered the room. “Atem.”

“Joey.” Atem nodded back.

“So, what’s the big problem?” Joey asked, settling into the chair as Yugi slumped back onto the sofa, “Who do we have to beat this time?”

“Yugi and I are dropping out of Hogwarts.” Atem said, with a shrug.

“You’re what?” Joey demanded.

“Dropping out. We’re taking Seto up on his offer of private tutors.”

“Why?”

“There’s more Shadow Duellists around then just us.” Atem indicated himself, Yugi, Harry and finally Joey. “And we need to be around to stop trouble.”

“That’s it? No death threats? No Shadow Games?” Joey demanded.

“No, nothing like that?”

“You pulled me away from my shopping trip with Serenity to tell me you two were dropping out of Hogwarts?”

“Uhhh, yes...”

Ennead: Ancient Bit: Part 7

Mahad let out a frustrated huff as he stalked down the corridor. 

When he had been assigned to teach the newest of the Priesthood, he had thought it might be a blessing in disguise. His investigation into Akenaden’s secrets had hit a dead end. His contacts had been out to the village only to find that time and the desert sands had buried any evidence that had been left behind. The only things left were the burnt out husks of the buildings and ruined signs that it had once been a thriving village.

With only the thief’s word to go on Mahad couldn’t accuse Akhenaten of anything. The ghost town, what had once been the Village of Thieves, would remain a nasty little secret unless new evidence came to light. That was, if the thief was telling the truth.

So he had looked forward to teaching the newest of those who would one day be Priests until he had realised that the boy had been ‘training’ at home with the priests of his local temple and had developed bad habits that would need to be retrained.

It wasn’t so bad. Seth at least had grown up outside the palace, so he didn’t have the arrogant attitudes that Mahad often ran into within the palace walls. He was a lot easier to deal with than the thief girl too. Though she had gotten more tolerable over time, Ba-Khu-Ra of Kul Elna, who now lived within the palace walls and was often found in the presence of the ‘Prince,’ was still the brash, obnoxious thief she had been when he had first met her.

But still Seth was suspicious of something and Mahad was pretty sure that, for once, it wasn’t to do with the thief in their midst. He had seen the common born mage watching the Princess like a hawk and Mahad had a horrible suspicion that Seth knew.

He wasn’t sure what to do about it either. Seth was a Priest. He couldn’t just order him to stay silent or threaten to ‘remove’ him from the equation. The Princess could, but he would have to bring it up to her first and he didn’t know how.

The question was taken out of his hands when he finally reached the Princess’s rooms to find Seth already there, demanding answers from her highness while Mana and the thief looked on.

“Mahad, close the door behind you.” The Princess didn’t give him a chance to say anything to any of them. He did as he was ordered, well aware this would be a loud conversation and that it would require privacy. The moment it was shut, the girl turned back to the angry and confused Priest, “Right, Seth, you were saying?”

“Mahad,” Seth turned to the other Priest, irritation obvious, “Please tell me I’m not the only one in this place who has the eyes to see what is in front of them?”

“No.” Mahad shook his head, “I’ve been aware since just after Anubis killed the Prince. I believe most of the palace are suffering from wilful blindness. They’re seeing what they want to see, or believing whatever they have been told to believe.”

Seth nodded his understanding, before turning back to her highness, “And the reason for this deception over all of Egypt?”

“My brothers are dead and I cannot be Pharaoh. My royal husband can but I am not allowed to marry outside of the bloodline.” The Princess explained, “My mother passed on many years ago and for some reason my father has been unable to provide any children from the harem since she died. This leaves me as the last of my line.”

“And your uncle has no children?” Seth looked surprised.

“He has one son, two years older than I am, but both he and his mother went missing during the war, just after the Millennium Items were created, and no one ever found them again.” The Princess shook her head, “And I cannot and will not marry Akhenaten.” Especally after what Ba-Khu-Ra had told her, but Seth didn’t need to hear about that.

“And without a clear line of succession there could be an uprising, or worse riots and chaos when your father passes on, though I would hope that that would be a long time yet.” Seth understood. “What of your brother. If people believe you to be him, what happened to him?”

“I ensured he was buried with his name, in his tomb and with his tools and toys.” Mahad reassured him, “He will not walk Duat.”

“Does the Pharaoh know?” Seth’s next question made the Princess pause, having wondered that herself for the last year and a half herself.

“I don’t know.” She admitted slowly, “Sometimes it seems like he is just as wilfully blind as the rest of the palace and then other times he says or does something that make it obvious he knows who I really am.” She frowned slightly, “If he’s aware of it, he hasn’t stated it outright and as long as he’s content to leave it so, so am I.”

Seth nodded, clearly thinking, “What is it you need me to do?”

“Seth?” Mahad was surprised, considering how set in tradition the other Priest was, he had been expecting much more of an argument.

“As long as the Pharaoh is letting this continue and it’s what’s best for Egypt, I will assist in keeping this debacle going.” Seth replied, shrugging at him, “Now,” He turned back to the Princess, “What is it I can do?”