Chapter six
The hall was silent, not an ounce of sound slipped through. Mcgonagall looked like she had just seen something really strange. All the professors were eerily quiet.
Bakura did not know how to react, it was all funny. He had put two and two together that this was not a normal occurrence, but a rather strange one. One he could not help, but laugh at. He clutched his stomach as he let out a loud laugh which echoed throughout the hall. It was hilarious, it was all so ironic. Yeah, at this point he didn’t know what to do with himself.
Mcgonagall seemed to snap back and grunted. “Mr. um… Bakura, it seems your sorting is done please go and take a seat.” Bakura only laughed more, but waved a hand in her direction and went over to the Slytherin table.
He slumped beside Malik since luckily no one had taken that place. Kaiba was across from them and had a neutral look on his face. Dumbledore stood up to say something, Bakura tried to listen, but when he heard it was only bollocks he shut Dumbledore out. He would have to figure out his so-called revenge plan later.
He had not realised how much everything hurt under the sorting, his head, his stomach and he felt bad in general. His head fell against the table as Dumbledore said his unimportant words, that he should have listened to. He let out a yawn.
Someone snorted. “Looks like the mudblood is tired,” what he had learnt under the sorting was Draco, Draco Malfoy, said. To be honest, his parents should have named him rich snot, Bakura thought.
“Shut it, rich snot,” he muttered as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He turned to Malik, who still looked pale. Draco started to go on a rampage about something, but Bakura`s attention was on Malik.
“Hey, you there?” he waved a hand in front of Malik`s face. Malik blinked and looked at him. It turned into an annoyed look in an instant and Bakura crumbled his face.
“Just eat your food,” Kaiba interrupted, apparently having sensed the tense air. Bakura blinked, where the empty table had many plates with different types of food. Steak, bread and different types of soup.
Malik grabbed one of the soups which seemed to be totally plant based. He had avoided an argument for once.
Bakura put one steak on his plate, he stared at it. His stomach hurt; he did not know the ins and the outs of that biology, but he thought that he might throw up the food if he tried to eat it. His mouth watered, he might as well try. It is boring to sit here without having anything to do and it would be suspicious to leave now since it did not look like anyone was about to leave at the moment.
He took up the steak with his hands, the sauce getting all over his hands. He wrinkled his nose. Disgusting. He still took a bite. His eyes widened, it was good, so good. He took another bite and one more. He wanted to cry, it was so good.
When the steak was all too soon finished, he took another. He started to take a bite.
“You like a goddamn pig!” the rich snot said loudly. Bakura rolled his eyes, yeah he did.
“I guess,” he retorted and took a bite.
“Get your mudblood face out of here, you don't belong in slytherin,” Draco continued on and a few nodded their agreements. Bakura snorted, the hat had been loud and clear.
“Take that discussion with the mouldy hat,” Bakura said.
“Um… Bakura, you should use those utilities,” Malik whispered to him and eyed Malfoy. Malik gestured to the utilities beside the plate. Bakura sighed, he looked down at the side of the plate where his food lay. There was eating equipment there. He picked the four tagged stick up and turned it round in his hand. He stabbed the steak with it and found the knife. He was familiar with how to use a knife, it was his speciality. He slished it into pieces and took them up with a four tagged stick to eat it. Better.
He felt better, much better. The throbbing in his bones were less intense and his stomach did not hurt. He did not feel like throwing up either. He let out a content sigh.
The feast continued on for a bit after Bakura had deemed himself done with the food.
Malik had propped an elbow on the table and rested his head as he drowsily observed his surroundings.
Draco had continued to berate them, but Bakura suspected that since the professors were around he could not do anything to bring attention. He had to uphold his princess-perfect image. Which meant that Draco could be a potentially dangerous enemy, not because of his own accomplishment, but because of his influence on the other Slytherins. Who knows what they could do?
-
The feast ended promptly and the first years were told to follow their houses` prefect to the different houses' sleeping place. They followed the prefect down the stairs, he noticed that Ryou, Yugi and Atem went up the stairs.
Down the stairs a chill settled over them, it was cold there. He hoped it was warmer in the dorms, because he did not like the cold. By his side Malik was silently shaking, perhaps in a time back in the days he would have put an arm around him, but now it was not like that.
Kaiba walked behind them, they were the last in the group. Unfortunately, giggling girls walked in front of them. It was agonising listening to their high pitched voices and the boys kept snickering. He hoped it would end soon.
They finally stopped in front of a stonewall. Bakura did not even question it at this point; Hagrid had opened a stone wall before. His body felt weak again. He found it so goddamn annoying. What was the point with having this body if it just hurt? Ryou`s body never hurt this much, not even when he plunged a knife into his arm.
The prefect informed that snickety-snake was the new slytherin password to get into the common room. Bakura thought it sounded idiotic. They walked into the stoney room. There were some statues there, glass which showed water outside and a fireplace. The glass was most interesting however, basically a window which overlooks a lake underwater. It must be the lake they took a boat over.
“Here are the first years` dorms,” the prefect said and strodded away a bit too fast, perhaps already fed up with the first-years. Bakura would have been too though.
There were two dorms it looked like, so Bakura and Malik went towards the other room that Draco Malfoy and his gang had not gone to. That would have been the most agonising, torturous years of his life. It would be awkward as hell with Malik, but better than the rich snot.
The door to the next room was identical to the other room that Malfoy had taken. Malik pushed the door open and it revealed a room with three big beds with green curtains and bedsheets. It was pretty snake themed as there was a big carpet with the slytherin logo on it and there were some windows showing the supposed lake outside.
But in the middle of the room stood a sour-looking Kaiba with his computer open. He had a big frown on his face and when they opened the door it turned bigger. He turned towards them and crossed his arms.
A grimace crossed Bakura`s face and he took a small step backwards. He almost considered hitting up Malfoy again, almost.
“It`s you,” Kaiba said and glared at Bakura. “And YOU!” Kaiba said even angrier. Bakura thought that was weird because when had Kaiba and Malik even met? And then it hit him…
He tried to hide his snicker as Malik audibly gulped. He shot him a glare. Which got him to laugh harder. The hand of a person hit the back of his head, which got him to shut up, but not without a glare towards the culprit.
“Well, it looks like we are roommates Kaiba,” Bakura said and went over to the bed furthest to the left. He plopped down on it; it was soft. He wanted to bury his head further down into the sheets.
“Oh god… is there really not any other rooms here for you to occupy?” Kaiba asked.
“You could ask the rich snot if you could share, but I think he has something against us,” Bakura looked to the side and set his gaze on Kaiba who dragged both of his hands slowly down his face.
Kaiba got his things and moved them over to the bed furthest away from Bakura. Malik quickly moved over to the bed which Kaiba had just occupied and sat down.
Bakura wondered what he was supposed to do now as everything for that day seemed over. He knew that classes started tomorrow. He sighed. He might as well explore.
He stood up. “I am leaving, see you later.” He started to walk towards the door.
“Wait!” Malik shouted. Bakura turned and narrowed his eyes. Malik had wide eyes and gritted teeth. He seemed to glance at Kaiba. Bakura knew what this was about and rolled his eyes.
“I will be going.”
--
Ryou stood in the Gryffindor dorm room for the first years. It was a room which gave off a warm and cosy vibe with it`s golden and red hues. He had ended up in a room with Yugi, Atem, Harry and Ron. He did not know what to think of the fact that both Malik and Bakura had ended up in Slytherin, while he was not all that surprised.
Ron had told them all about how Slytherin`s are bad and always end up evil; Ryou had a hard time imagining a whole house full of evil people. They could not all possibly be bad, right? While Malik did have his ups and downs he had ultimately turned out to be a nice boy. Bakura however…
Ryou clutched the ring that he still had. He actually wanted to get rid of it, he could just give it to Bakura. He did not have use for it and Bakura was its rightful owner after all. It was a bit weird that Bakura had not asked for it yet, but Ryou was sure that was only because lately he has been a bit on the edge.
It worried him a bit, because he has been way more snappy than in a while. It could not be compared to how he used to be back then. Ryou shuttered only by thinking about it. But what could it be that made him be this way? There was no way that it was his new body, was it? He had always wanted his own body as long as Ryou could remember. It wouldn't make sense for him to get angry or mad, because he finally has his own body.
“Ryou?”
“Oh yeah?” he snapped back to reality. He was currently laying on the bed he had chosen. He was in some clothes that he had dragged out of his bag; his things had come there by themselves!
“Are you okay?” it was apparently Harry who was asking. Ryou gave Harry a smile.
“Yes, I was just thinking about Bakura, he seems distressed as of lately,” he explained and waved a hand in the air.
“Oh, don't waste your time thinking about him, whatever bond you had was a manipulative one. That`s how it goes with all Slytherins,” Ron said and shook his head in disapproval. Ryou tightened his lips, Ron was not actually far off. Manipulative was Bakura`s real last name after all, but Ron did not know half of it.
“I doubt all Slytherins are bad,” Yugi said. Ryou nodded in agreement.
“Just wait and see,” Ron stated and huffed. Yugi and Ryou gave each other a quick look.
“Malik isn't evil, you know that, you even talked to him happily on the train,” Yugi pointed out “... and as for Bakura… he can be harsh at times, but I am sure he can't be that bad,” Yugi added a bit hesitantly. He shared another look with Ryou.
Ryou nodded. “Ah… yes, he can be nice… sometimes.”
“Malik is friends with that one and he had not been nice to me ever since we met,” Ron snorted. Ryou bit his lip.
“You have it wrong, Bakura and Malik used to be friends. They are two different people and you talked to Bakura once, you can barely say anything about what their motives are. Sure, you can make a first impression, but you can not actually judge how they actually are in one meeting. Plus, Malik has only been nice to you until now,” Atem said from where he sat on his bed. Everyone turned to him and stared as he had been quiet this whole time.
“... he does have a point, Ron,” Harry pointed out, a bit nervous from where he had stood and observed the conversation. He had been the one to start it, but Ryou was also kind at fault here as he had started the topic.
“Not you too Harry Potter!” Ron took a grip on the curtain around his bed frustrated. “I will not become friends with those Slytherin scums!” he shouted and drew close the curtains around his bed. Ryou flinched a bit and so did Harry. Yugi had a sour look on his face while Atem looked serious.
Atem let out a quiet sigh which everyone could hear as the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ryou needed to get out of there. He eyed the bathroom door, it was a good excuse to go and get ready for the night since it was night after all. Plus he was actually tired after the long day.
“I will just go and take a shower and brush my teeth…” he whispered as he dragged his toilet map and a pair of pyjamas out of his bag. He swallowed, this was his least favourite part of his day. He clenched his hand.
--
The lights in the dungeon were out and his footsteps made an echoing sound as he snuck around. There was nothing there except the occasional painting which would either sleep or talk. Some had tried to threaten him with telling the professors that he was up after curfew, but he quickly manipulated them and they shut up. They all shared the same goddamn brain cell. That just helped him, but still it was a bit annoying to see so many mindless paintings.
This was pointless, the dungeon was just an endless hall of halls. He took a turn. He had to figure out where the stairs were, so he could possibly find something interesting to investigate. He would possibly need to study Akhet too; he had tried to avoid thinking about it too much, but he had to figure it out somehow.
Could he live without shadow magic and the reassurance that came with the magic that he would be safe. Did he have to learn this school`s type of magic to feel safe again. It has been such a long time since he had lived without the safety magic brings that he is paranoid that a monster might jump out and kill him at that moment.
Bakura sighed, stopped and scanned the wall beside him. It looked normal, nothing interesting. Just a bunch of bricks. Yeah, fuck this.
“At this point this wall is a secret passageway to a bar or something,” he muttered. Now that he thought about it, a drink sounded rather nice.
He had wandered some more, but he ultimately never ended up finding a secret passage to a bar.