Harry Potter Yu-Gi-Oh crossover – Disclaimer: I own neither
/Ryou and Bakura mind link/
Koe – Voice (What Ryou calls the spirit of the ring)
Yadonushi – Landlord (What the spirit calls Ryou)
0
"Who's having what now?"
Vernon stared at his son in shock as the boy once again tried to explain that Harry was apparently having a guest over. Dudley was just glad he had something to derail the topic from his watch which must have fallen off during his outing babysitting Harry.
"Apparently he invited him over a while ago." Dudley said, turning to stare at Harry who was sitting on the couch, ignoring the whole lot of them.
"How dare you invite anyone over here to my house! Especially one of your freak friends." Vernon growled at Harry who was still blissfully ignoring him.
"Now dear, Duddykins said it was Ryou Bakura right?" Petunia looked to her child for affirmation and Dudley nodded. Vernon seemed to be thinking this over more calmly now.
"Perhaps this Ryou isn't quite the man I expected if he befriended that fiend of a child." Vernon narrowed his eyes at Harry. Harry merely yawned and continued watching commercials on the television. Vernon was about to say more when the door bell rang, drawing four sets of eyes to the wooden entry way. Harry automatically moved to answer it, but surprisingly his aunt was already heading over. Vernon watched from the living room with his son who was just as nosily eavesdropping beside him.
"Good evening. I hope I'm not intruding. Harry said I could come by for a visit." The voice was polite and gentle, just like the boy who followed Petunia into the house. Petunia was already fawning over the child who had greeted her with a polite bow of the head and a charming smile worthy of a prince. Harry noticed his aunt was holding something – a gift Ryou had brought over. No wonder his aunt was so pleased. She had a famous, young, polite, handsome boy who was the current topic of the town giving her gifts. Harry glanced at his uncle who had stood up to greet Ryou properly. He apparently forgot he had just decided to dislike the white haired boy. Gifts tended to have that effect on the Dursleys. Harry gave said gift a glance as his aunt placed it on the table. It was one of those fancy little candle decorations and Harry admitted the scent was pretty nice. Much better than the usual smell of this hell hole. Harry finally stood up and headed over to Ryou who was busily looking back and forth between his aunt and uncle as each tried to talk to him in turn. The boy seemed relieved when he finally saw Harry.
"Hello Harry. Thank you for having me over on such short notice" he said with his usual politeness and that little bow he kept doing. Harry smirked as his uncle gave him a dirty look. Harry knew he wasn't going to reprimand him now seeing as it was clear aunt Petunia was already fond of Ryou and the white haired boy was only over to visit Harry. Harry glanced at his aunt who was asking Ryou how he got his hair to look like that and she seemed genuinely surprised when Ryou replied that it was natural.
"Ryou, you want to have a seat? I doubt standing by the door is what you planned to do when you visited." Harry offered, letting his green eyes flicker to his aunt and uncle before settling them on Ryou. Ryou nodded and followed Harry to the couch. He tripped on his way over and thrust his hand out to the counter to steady himself. Petunia was instantly by his side asking if he was okay but Ryou only smirked and said he was perfectly fine. He sat beside Harry and folded his hands on his lap. Harry thought for a moment Ryou looked upset about something, but the look was gone as fast as it had appeared so he dismissed it as his imagination.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Petunia asked as she situated herself on the couch opposite of Ryou and Harry.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly. I don't want to trouble you like that." Ryou said, but Petunia wasn't accepting of such an answer.
"Oh nonsense it's nothing." She cooed like she did when she spoke to her Dudley-poo. She hopped up and pranced her way to the kitchen where Harry suspected she'd call her friends and brag about having a celebrity in the house. The silence that followed was awkward and Ryou was doing all he could trying not to fidget where he sat. He knew Dudley and Harry's uncle were watching him and it was making him uncomfortable.
"Oh, hey Ryou… it's your commercial" Harry said, motioning to the TV in an attempt to divert attention away from Ryou, but it was only effective for a few seconds. Dudley repeatedly looked back and forth between the screen and the real thing sitting in front of him, which was becoming a rosy shade of red. Finally Ryou ended up covering his embarrassed face with a hand.
"Mr. Bakura, what a feat to have your own commercial. And such a humble young man." Vernon didn't seem to care that Ryou was not a fan of his fame. "My son has told me you've also appeared in magazines?"
"Anou… yes" Ryou replied with a shy nod of the head. Harry wondered what 'anou' meant but didn't get the chance to ask. His uncle and cousin were determined to not even let Harry get the opportunity to start a sentence.
"Splendid splendid. Your parents must be proud to have such a well known son!" Vernon chirped and Harry noticed Ryou looked away instead of responding. "Tell me, what do your folks do?" Ryou smiled politely, a smile he had trained himself to wear and a smile Harry had seen before right after he had helped Ryou clean his house.
"My father is an archeologist and the curator of a museum in Domino City, Japan. He's made a lot of amazing discoveries in Egypt so he's pretty well known." Ryou explained quickly with a tip of his head.
"Yeah, well when I looked up the name Bakura, all that showed up was you" Dudley said, pointing a thick finger and Ryou who once again blushed, though not nearly as bad as during his commercial.
"That's probably just because the last tournament I was in was a pretty big deal to Duel Monster fans worldwide and it wasn't all that long ago…" he replied, choosing to avert his eyes and clasp his hands together to avoid squirming under the Dursley's stares.
"Worldwide you say?" Vernon asked and Ryou mentally kicked himself for saying that. He really didn't want the extra attention. Thankfully Harry came to his rescue.
"Come on Ryou, we can wait in my room until my aunt fixes dinner." He said as he stood up and waited. Vernon looked angry and Dudley raised his eyebrow at his cousin.
"Why the blazes would Ryou want to" Dudley started but trailed off as Ryou stood and followed Harry to the steps fairly quickly. He stopped a moment, twirling on the spot and resting a hand on the table while the other waved at the two still on the couch.
"Pleasure to meet you. I can't wait for dinner" He chirped before once again spinning around and dashing upstairs after Harry with a thin smile. Harry glanced back over his shoulder as Ryou raced to catch up to him, noting the grin on his guest's face.
"Are you really that happy to get away from them?" He asked with amusement plastered all over his face. Ryou's smirk twitched into a slightly larger grin which was all the answer Harry needed. He led Ryou to his room and the foreigner let out a soft whistle.
"They really don't want you leaving your room do they?" He asked as he took in the lock covered framing on the side of the door. His hand gently brushed over each and every one of the contraptions with a look in his eyes Harry couldn't identify.
"Yeah. I'm not really their favorite person." He shrugged as he opened the door and headed inside. Ryou followed. He stopped dead in his tracks and Harry watched as the boy's brown eyes widened. His whole face lit up with excitement and suddenly Ryou was beside the metal cage in the corner of the room. His mouth hung just the tiniest bit open as he stared at the white bird within. A familiar white bird that turned her golden eyes towards Ryou and let out a gentle cree.
"Harry…. You have an owl in your room." Ryou stated as he blinked and touched the wire cage as if to make sure it was real. Harry chuckled and nodded as he headed over. He was surprised when Ryou reached two fingers through the cage and even more surprised when Hedwig allowed the two fingers to touch her without offering a bit of protest to this stranger.
"Yeah. Her name's Hedwig." Harry said as he sat down beside the cage and watched Ryou stroke his owl once more.
"Hello Hedwig. You're just as lovely as the last time I saw you," Ryou said softly to the bird. Hedwig gently nibbled Ryou's finger which once again surprised the young wizard in the room.
"She must really like you." He voiced his thoughts out loud as he looked at Hedwig curiously.
/ Of course she does. Why wouldn't she like us of all people? She is an owl after all. /
"Koe?" The sudden sound of the spirit made Ryou blink in confusion.
"What's that?" Harry's question jerked Ryou out of his thoughts and the boy immediately pulled his hand back and rubbed his hair.
"Oh did I say that out loud? It's nothing. Really." Ryou said quickly though Harry folded his arms and was clearly waiting for a real answer.
"No, really, I was just thinking to myself and apparently I thought the last bit out loud. Koe means voice you see and I was just… anou… thinking about how I met Hedwig before. I heard her voice when I was in the park…." Ryou said the words quickly and forced a light laugh, but Harry finally seemed to accept the answer.
/Oho smooth cover up my poor flustered Yadonushi. Ra forbid your precious little friend finds out you're talking to a voice in your head. / The voice was chuckling but this time Ryou did not respond. Instead he turned his blush towards Hedwig and poked his fingers back through the cage.
"So then… you saw her the other day?" Harry realized what Ryou had said and now he had a note of worry in his voice. Ryou turned curiously to Harry and gave a tiny nod.
"Yes. I saw her flying over the town and again when I was in the park." Ryou realized his words were troubling Harry so he asked if that was a bad thing. Harry shook his head.
"No it's fine. Just, can you do me a favor and not mention it to the Dursleys?" he asked. Ryou seemed confused so Harry continued to explain. "It's just they refuse to let me let Hedwig out of her cage during the summer, so if they found out I did…well…" He trailed off but Ryou was smiling.
"Don't worry Harry. I won't tell a soul." Harry at last seemed relieved. Ryou looked back to Hedwig, disliking that she was cooped up all the time but glad she had Harry as her master. Ryou could tell Harry was very good to her just by the way she looked at him.
The two boys stayed in the room and talked about the white plumed Hedwig for awhile before the conversation switched to Ryou's equally snow white hair. Harry questioned why Ryou didn't just cut it, but all Ryou could say was that he liked the length as it was. He didn't understand why he got that question so much in England. Nobody ever questioned his hair in Japan. They started to discuss Japan after that and Ryou told Harry about his friends in Domino City. He carefully left out any and all things that revolved around certain items, evil plots, and magic. Harry did the very same thing when he told Ryou about his friends from Hogwarts. Neither suspected anything from each other's stories. Both boys saw the other as a nice break away from the mayhem that seemed to follow them everywhere.
0
"Yes, that's right. I swear sometimes I think she knows more than the teachers do" Harry chuckled as he finished up a short little – and heavily edited – story about him and his friends. Ryou smiled.
"She kinda reminds me of a man named Kaiba…. Well… except Kaiba is kind of mean and grouchy… but when it comes to intelligence, he's at the top of his class." Ryou said as he looked at the black haired boy sitting by the window. Ryou was still beside Hedwig's cage.
"Kaiba as in Kaiba Corporation?"
The sound drew Ryou's attention to the door where Vernon stood staring at Ryou. Ryou tensed under the man's gaze and quickly nodded.
"You know this man? Are you well acquainted with him?" Vernon asked eagerly. Kaiba Corp was a well known organization that happened to build numerous buildings and attractions often enough. His own business would only gain prestige if he could manage to get on good terms with such a corporation.
"I know him a little but I wouldn't really say we're well acquainted. I mean, he respects my dueling ability, but he isn't exactly the easiest person to just make friends with. Mokuba is – his little brother is much more sociable." Ryou said carefully, this time unable to stop himself from fidgeting. Vernon nodded, taking in this new information and viewing Ryou as a possible connection to bigger and better things. The heavy set man motioned for Ryou to come downstairs.
"Ah yes well. We can discuss this more over dinner." He said a bit too cheerily for Harry's taste. The dark haired boy eyed his uncle suspiciously as he started following after Ryou. His uncle stopped him, barring his way with his thick arm.
"Don't mess this up boy. I don't want any of your little tricks to frighten our guest off do you understand?" his glaring uncle hissed. Harry said nothing, choosing to try to win the stare down instead. At last his uncle headed downstairs and Harry soon followed. He looked around to find Ryou gently brushing his hand across the mantle of the fireplace. Dudley was beside him, talking nonstop about how wonderful his life was. Harry walked over to stand on Ryou's other side.
"No picture of you Harry? I guess they really don't like you do they?" Ryou purred, his brown eyes looking at the many pictures of the Dursleys. Harry glanced at Ryou quietly.
"Of course not. Potty is a freak show, Ryou. Trust me, you're better off cutting off whatever ties you made with him. He's a liar and a creep that'll only drag you into his nonsense." Dudley chirped, more than happy to use any opening to tear down his cousin.
"Same could be said for you Dudley." Harry turned his eyes to glare at his relative and Ryou just chuckled. Both squabbling boys turned to face Ryou in surprise.
"Family quarrels. How cute." He said simply as he headed to the kitchen. Harry stared at Ryou's back a moment before sending one last glare at his cousin and walking into the kitchen as well. As expected, there were four plates set up on the table. What he hadn't expected, especially after that display, was how upset Ryou looked as Vernon motioned for the boy to sit beside him. Dudley and Petunia had already claimed their spots.
"What about Harry?" Ryou asked. Dudley laughed which only seemed to upset the white haired boy even more.
"It's fine Ryou." Harry offered, but Ryou shook his head.
"No, it's not. It's cruel and families should eat together. Everyone in the family." Ryou replied, taking a step back away from the table. Vernon glared at Harry as if it was his fault Ryou was so upset.
"I'm sorry. I'm not really feeling well right now. Harry, you should sit and enjoy your time with your family. I'll head back home" Ryou bowed first to the Dursleys and then again, a smaller tiny bow, to Harry. He quickly headed for the door before anyone could utter a protest. Harry and the Dursleys watched the door close in silence.
0
/bit of an overreaction don't you think Yadonushi? /
Ryou bit his lip and continued walking briskly along the emptying streets. Ryou probably did over react but he couldn't help it. Families should spend their time together while they can. They never know when something will happen that could make little things like a group meal become impossible. How could Harry's family just cut him out like that?
/Not everyone has ou– your sob story Yadonushi. /
"But it's such a shame… they don't realize what they have." Ryou said quietly as his pace finally slowed to a more normal speed.
/And they won't until it's stolen away from them. Speaking of which…/
Ryou sighed as his hands slipped into his pockets. The very reason he had worn his black trench coat was because the spirit of the ring had forced him to. The pockets were deep and the black made it difficult to see when they were getting bulky.
"Now I'll have to buy them something else" He mumbled and the voice from the ring just laughed.
/Don't bother. It's not even hard to steal from those foolish mortals. Waste anymore of our money on them and your gifts will go missing one by one from that house... Along with other things they may hold dear…/
Ryou sighed again and let his arms hang loosely by his sides. The street lamps flickered on as the sun quickly disappeared behind the little homes that formed the town. He took a detour to his house, not really in the mood to deal with its solemn emptiness, and decided to stop in at a little diner for dinner. The waitress was kind and brought him his food pretty quickly. Ryou asked for some cream puffs to go and paid with the money he had gotten from selling the watch. Guilt swept over him as he handed over the money and left a hefty tip on the table. He wasn't the one that took the watch, and yet he couldn't honestly say it wasn't his hands that had committed the crime. Who would possibly believe him if he tried to explain? Not that he would ever tell anyone about the spirit of the ring. Pegasus, the creator of the Duel Monsters game, had seen and told him what happened when the ring was worn by those the items deemed unworthy. If people found out about the ring… if they tried to wear it…
Ryou shivered at the thought. The chuckling in his head only made his shivering worsen.
0
He sat there with a tiny smile as he watched the television.
"There is still no progress in the investigation. The owner of the rare obsidian jackal statue has offered a reward for any information that could lead to catching the culprit behind the theft of this priceless heirloom. Police have yet to come across any traces that could lead the burglar."
"And they never will" chuckled the boy as he clicked a button on the remote. The image flickered to rather gruesome movie that held the boy's attention until the doorbell rang. He groaned and flicked the television off, tossing the remote onto the table with a loud clatter.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that. You're going to break it." The boy said as he stood up and headed to the door. He chose to stay in all day today. Someone was supposed to come by to take measurements for his new windows. He walked over to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.
"Good morning. Is your father home young man?" asked the man on Ryou's doorstep. Ryou shook his head, which caused the man to frown.
"It's okay. You're here to take measurements correct?" Ryou asked with a pleasant smile. The man nodded and Ryou invited him in.
"When will your father be back? I'm afraid I can't start until a mister Ryou Bakura signs these papers" The man said, glancing at the paperwork in his hands and waiting for the child to answer.
"My father is unable to be here at this time which is why I ordered the windows. I'm Ryou Bakura, so if you'd take a seat on the couch I'd be more than happy to sign whatever I need to" Ryou replied with politeness. The man was taken by surprise but shook his head and sat down. Ryou carefully went through each paper. Soon his named was scrawled across all the necessary documents and the man went to work. It didn't take that long to finish up and the man told Ryou he'd be back in a few days to install the windows. Ryou led him to the door after letting him have some tea. He opened the door and stopped. Harry was standing there with his fist raised as if he was about to knock.
"Harry! What are you doing here?" Ryou asked curiously.
"I just thought I should stop by. You said you weren't feeling well yesterday, so I just …" Harry trailed off. Ryou smiled and asked Harry to hold on for a moment as he said goodbye to the window man. He held the door open and invited Harry inside.
"Look, I just wanted to apologize about my family last night." Harry began but Ryou shook his head.
"It's okay Harry, there's really nothing to apologize for." He said just as politely as ever. Harry looked around, unable to meet Ryou's eyes. It was obvious he had been upset no matter what he said now. Eventually his eyes fell onto a six inch statuette of a dog. Just to break the silence, he decided to use it as a conversation piece.
"So what's this?" he asked as he stepped over to it. When he looked at it more closely, he could see what looked like elegant gold detailing around the shining black stone.
"That is a reclining Anubis statue. Do you know who Anubis is?" Ryou asked as he walked over to the little statue.
"Hermione said something about it before… is he the Egyptian God of the dead?" Harry asked, feeling proud of himself for remembering that little detail. His pride crumbled as Ryou shook his head.
"Not quite, but close. Anubis is more like the protector of the dead. His father, Osiris, is the lord of the dead." Ryou explained as he gently brushed his pale fingers along the contour of the black jackal. Harry looked at the dog statue, noticing now that the golden designs formed hieroglyphics along the base and an elaborate golden collar. It was so obviously Egyptian and it looked pretty pricey.
"It's cool. You know a lot about this type of stuff?" Harry asked, looking up to Ryou, who nodded. Ryou was just glad Harry didn't ask where it came from.
"Yup. When your father is always excavating tombs in Egypt, you learn a lot about it." He replied, a half truth. Honestly, most of his knowledge of Egypt and the Egyptian gods came from another source entirely. For a moment, sadness made its way into Ryou's mask, and though it only lasted a mere moment, Harry had seen it. Harry wasn't stupid. He could tell family was undoubtedly a touchy subject for Ryou and though he wanted to know why, he wasn't going to ask.
"Okay, you know I've been kind of curious for awhile now. Do you have your deck for that card game?" He asked. As he hoped, Ryou's face brightened considerably and he nodded.
"I take it with me everywhere. Do you have a deck?" He asked. It would be great if he did. They could have duel! Unfortunately Harry shook his head.
"I didn't really know about it until a few months ago when it started to catch on like wildfire" Harry explained. "I've been wondering what the game was like though. It can't be as simple as placing down cards and whoever is stronger wins." Ryou smiled at Harry and told him to wait a minute while he got his cards. Harry took a seat on the couch as Ryou ran upstairs. He returned pretty quickly with a small box. He pulled a perfectly stacked deck out and fanned some of the cards so Harry could look at them.
"You're right; it's not as simple as stronger monster wins. There are magic cards, trap cards, field cards, effects… Yugi has a card that actually can't be defeated by a monster that has attack points higher than a certain amount." Ryou said happily. Harry stared at the scraps of paper curiously, noticing yet again how excited Ryou got when he talked about his passions.
"So the smartest player wins huh?" He said as he read some of the descriptions on the cards. Part of him was tempted to try it out himself, but he didn't really have the money to waste on cards.
"Typically. I mean, everyone has different strategies, and some people try to just overwhelm you with sheer strength, but there's usually a way to counter everything." Ryou chirped. Harry smiled.
"Here's another question… are all the monsters in this game so…" He trailed off, not really sure how to describe the cards in Ryou's deck. Ryou chuckled and shook his head, knowing exactly what Harry meant.
"No. A lot of duelists have themes in their decks though. I have an occult theme" He explained and Harry let out an 'oh' of understanding. He smiled again. It was just funny to think that this white haired bright hearted boy enjoyed the occult so much. He wondered what Ryou would think if he knew magic was real. Harry continued to flip through the cards. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if some of the monsters depicted really did exist out there somewhere. He stopped and stared at one car in particular and instantly Ryou smile at him.
"That's the change of heart card. It's my favorite."
"But why is the background green?" Harry asked and Ryou quickly explained that it was a magic card, not a monster card.
"What about this one? What does this do?" Harry asked as he pointed to a card with just the letter E on it.
"That's part of destiny board. If you can play all five of them, you instantly win." Ryou explained, and Harry furrowed his brow.
"That seems kind of broken" He replied and Ryou chuckled.
"Well, it does have a drawback. You can only play up to five magic or trap cards at a time, so you can't complete the word if you have any spells or traps on the field. Also, if even one of the cards is destroyed, the others become useless but still use up one of the magic and trap card places." Ryou knew his deck's weaknesses well and he knew how to overcome this weakness too, but he didn't really need to explain the field effects of dark sanctuary to Harry. He had a feeling it would be too overwhelming for someone new to the game.
"So do they spell something?" Harry asked, picking out another letter and another. "E, T, D…"
"Yeah… it spells 'death'. You know, because it results in the instant game over of the other player." Ryou said quietly with a smile and Harry shivered. Ryou chuckled lightheartedly at Harry's reaction.
"That's another thing about this game. If you can get in your opponent's head, they'll be more likely to make mistakes. Jounouchi once told me he was afraid to go against me just because he thought my deck was creepy." Ryou smiled.
"Yeah I can agree to that" Harry mumbled which only made Ryou giggle. Soon Ryou was gathering up his cards and placing them gently in the box he had brought them down in. Harry noticed he treated them with a lot of care.
"Harry, are you going to let Hedwig out flying again?" Ryou asked after he returned from storing his cards. Harry frowned a bit.
"I'm not sure. I'd really like to, but chances to sneak her out don't come around very often." He replied and Ryou seemed disappointed. Harry glanced at the white haired boy curiously as Ryou clearly tried to fight a nervous grin from spreading onto his face. There was also a faint sign of a blush and for a moment, Harry thought Ryou made a slight movement that resembled a shake of the head, but he wasn't positive.
"Did you eat with your family last night Harry?" Ryou asked suddenly, looking up to meet Harry's eyes. Harry looked away and didn't answer. Ryou's shoulders slumped and he dropped his gaze.
"Really Ryou, that's just how the Dursleys are with me. It's completely normal." Harry tried to assure him but Ryou vehemently shook his head.
"It's not normal at all Harry. If that's how it is every day, isn't there a way you can change it? How they treat you?" Ryou asked, looking at Harry yet again with his big brown eyes. Harry was still getting used to a muggle caring about him like this. A muggle friend.
"Ryou, I really don't think they can change." Harry was stopped yet again by Ryou's shaking head.
"Everybody can change Harry. You've just got to give them a chance to."
/You've been preaching that a lot lately haven't you Yadonushi? /
Ryou immediately blushed and looked away, rubbing his hair.
0
Days became weeks and before Ryou knew it, he had been in Little Whinging for an entire month already. He had come to London about a week before the end of his first term in Japan. His friends had made a big deal about him leaving even though he told them he would be back in time for next trimester.
"August 2nd." He said happily as he glanced at the calendar he had hung in the kitchen. His father hadn't come for a visit once since his arrival here and his calls were few and far between. Ryou was used to it and focused instead that in just another short month he would be back home in Japan with his friends. Well, most of his friends. He and Harry had spent a lot of time together these past few weeks. Ryou was also happy to see the Dursleys treating Harry better when he visited their house.
"I'm going to go meet up with Harry in the park today Koe." He chirped. The spirit of the ring was quiet for a moment before finally speaking up.
/You're awfully cheery today Yadonushi/
Ryou shrugged and cleaned up his breakfast plate. He enjoyed his time with his English friend. Harry was really the only real friend he had made in Little Whinging. Sure a lot of the other kids played nice around him, but their compliments felt fake. One or two of the people were actually afraid of him and he couldn't understand why. The spirit of the ring chuckled at the thought which made Ryou frown a bit, but he didn't ask.
After a minute or two to get himself in order, he headed for the front door. He glanced out the window as he walked, enjoying the light that lit the room now that the new windows had finally replaced the covered holes in the wall. He checked his pockets and rolled his eyes as he pulled out a pocket knife and place it on the table. Finally he was ready to go. His hand was literally on the doorknob when he heard the familiar ring of the telephone. He stopped and turned around to face it, pondering if he should just let the answering machine get it. With a sigh, he headed over to the phone hanging on the wall and picked it up.
"Hello?"
