Harry Potter Yu-Gi-Oh crossover – Disclaimer: I own neither
/Ryou and Bakura mind link/
"-Foreign language-"
Koe – Voice (What Ryou calls the spirit of the ring)
Yadonushi – Landlord (What the spirit calls Ryou)
0
A thin pale frame jerked and sprang up mere seconds after collapsing on the asphalt of the street. The boy panted lightly as he used his arms to support his weight. Slowly his breathing evened out and he leaned his head against his knees.
"Stupid Yadonushi…. I said don't pass out…" the spirit of the ring growled. He sat still for a moment as he let some strength return to his weary limbs. Luckily Ryou waited to lose consciousness until after whatever the hell that thing was that attacked them was gone. Consumed by the shadows. The spirit's sadistic nature caused the tiniest grin to slip onto his face at the thought of watching that thing literally being torn to shreds until nothing remained. His amusement however did not want to last and soon his mind was focusing on other things.
Bakura shuddered and flexed his fingers to convince his blood to bring warmth back through his arms and hands. Ryou hadn't been lying about the chill in the air. He glanced upwards from his seat in the street and looked around, knowing too well that if there was one, there could be more of those creatures around. Bakura turned his head towards the place that strange monster had last stood. The ground looked un-phased except for a few stray pieces of shredded cloth. He let his gaze scan the sky and trace the darkness of the road. With that monster gone, the sky already seemed brighter and the night already less frigid… but that could have just been his imagination.
At last the thief forced himself to his feet. He had taken complete control of the body as soon as Ryou's consciousness slipped away from him. Now his other half was resting quietly in his soul room, oblivious to the world.
Things were not adding up. What was that thing and how had it been able to invade Ryou's mind like that? His hand pressed against the ring that had literally burned his chest during the encounter. He had used physical pain to numb the mental pain and brought his host somewhat back to his senses. Additionally, the wall he usually put up to keep Ryou from snooping through his thoughts seemed to keep whatever strange mental magic the cloaked creature had at bay, if only for awhile. As his thoughts dwelled on the strange fight, he wondered about his landlord. He had been unsure what would happen to Ryou, more importantly the body he currently resided in, if his host was suppressed or blacked out while the enemy still had influence over his mind. It was this uncertainty that led him to not even attempt to push Ryou's mind back when he chose to go on the attack.
One last thing had the thief baffled. Bakura had surprised himself with the strength and ease of his attack on the creature. He glanced at his hand, palm up, and balled it into a fist. How was it he had managed to pull together that level of power and yet he was still having difficulty fully suppressing his host when he took command? The thief placed his hand on his forehead with a sigh before running his hand through his hair.
0
The boy sprang up in a panic, panting and sweating even as a chill shot up his spine. His eyes dashed about the room until at last he calmed down. Everything around him was familiar. He was in his room. Everything was okay. Still he felt unsure and downright depressed. It was like a weight was sitting in his chest, telling him the day was not going to be worth it. He had no idea how long he had been in bed, but his body was still thoroughly exhausted. Maybe it was because of that nightmare he had.
/That wasn't a nightmare Yadonushi/
Ryou scrunched his face in confusion. Of course it was a dream. If it had been real, how did he end up back in his room in bed? He pulled away his covers and swung his legs lazily over the edge. It was then he noticed he was still wearing his street clothes, sneakers included. He sat like that a moment, tired eyes looking over his rather run down appearance. He didn't really care though. At last he stood up and quietly headed downstairs, not bothering to change. There really was no point anyway.
He stood at the base of the stairs a moment, letting his blank eyes take in the room. His stomach let out a soft murmur which brought Ryou's dull brown gaze to the kitchen. He blinked and decided he really didn't feel up to making food right now. Hours seemed to pass by as the white haired boy sat aimlessly in his house, sighing every now and again. He hadn't even bothered to call out of work.
/Go visit Harry./
Ryou let his head tip to the side, though his face still seemed completely lackluster. He thought he should ask why, but the words never reached his lips.
/your depression is annoying. Now go visit the Potter kid and his owl./ demanded the voice. The last thing the spirit needed was for Ryou to start neglecting taking care of his body like this. He had given Ryou time to get over the attack from the night before, but apparently that approach wasn't working and he sure as hell had no intentions of cooking and cleaning.
Ryou let out another sigh and headed out the door without arguing. It would be pointless to try to argue with the spirit anyway.
The whole town seemed quiet this afternoon. Nobody was out and nothing dared to make a sound. Ryou's trip to Privet drive was made even more uneventful from not only the lack of talk, but lack of thoughts. The only thing that would take up space in the boy's head (besides a slightly evil spirit) was the occasional thoughts of hopelessness or pessimism. He looked up at the door of 4 Privet Drive and slowly raised his hand to give a weak knock. He noticed the curtain in the window was tugged open a bit so someone could peek outside, but he didn't seem to care. He heard locks sliding out of place and at last the door was opened. Vernon was standing there with a clearly forced smile.
"Good day Ryou. What can I help you with?" he asked. The spirit was suspicious that the fat man wasn't trying to get Ryou to come in and ditch Harry as usual, but he could not get Ryou to think about this discontinuity no matter how much he pressed.
"Just came to see Harry." Ryou shrugged. Vernon was a bit surprised by Ryou's downtrodden attitude and the fact the white haired boy never once looked up at him. His surprise was suppressed and replaced with hidden irritation.
"Potter won't be seeing anyone anytime soon. Now Mister Bakura, head home. We cannot entertain today." Vernon said flatly, which was as polite as one could ask him to be when he was telling someone to leave. Ryou seemed to completely accept this and turned to go as Vernon shut the door. Somebody else, however, did not like Dursley's dismissal of Ryou after all that time spent trying to woo him over for his benefit. The boy stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at the quiet little house. He frowned and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he turned and headed back to the door. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the wooden entryway until at last he pounded his fist against it. Immediately after, his back was pressed against the wall. At first there was no answer, so he repeated the action. A moment of silence and he heard the door unlocking again. A rather angry looking Vernon stepped out and glared around for the perpetrator.
Said perp smirked and slipped inside behind him, completely unnoticed. Vernon shook his head and stepped back inside. He closed the door, completely missing the white haired boy who was leaning without a care behind it, and headed back into the living room.
"Fool." Muttered the boy as he shook his head and silently glided up the stairs. He didn't make a single sound as he coasted his way down the hall, stopping only once he reached the familiar door of the black haired kid with the scar on his head. He reached out for the doorknob and when it wouldn't open his eyes glanced at the multitude of expensive locks lining the side of the doorframe. A crooked little smirk sat on his face. Child's play.
0
Harry sat staring up at the ceiling of his room from his position sprawled across his bed. The previous night still had him riled up and this damned house was now beyond stifling. He still couldn't believe he had to go to a hearing to defend himself for…. defending himself! Didn't they understand that if he hadn't sent away those dementors with his silver patronus, they would have killed both him and his good for nothing cousin? These thoughts brought about another round of anger in the teen and he rolled over to glare at the wall.
It was only the rustling of the doorknob that brought his attention back to the real world. He sat up and glared at the door as he listened to the locks disengage one by one at an alarming rate. What now? Did his uncle finally convince his aunt to throw him out on the streets? Or maybe he finally fixed that fancy little rifle he bought right before Harry left for his first year at Hogwarts. Harry steeled himself for the verbal abuse as the door swung open. Once it did he could only stare, dumbfounded.
"Ryou?" He blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected the Dursley's to let anyone see him no matter what their status.
"Where's your bird?" grumbled the white haired boy as he walked in and quietly closed the door behind him. His eyes were locked on the empty cage in the corner, then on Harry himself.
"She's taking letters to my friends… Ryou are you alright?" Harry stared at his friend as he took in the boy's roughed up appearance. His own little drama was temporarily put on hold as he noted Ryou was still wearing the same clothes he had been in the day before. He looked pale and even as Harry watched, his face just melted into a look of complete despair. Ryou stood there by the door, looking down at his feet in silence.
"Ryou, did something happen? Did you dad call again?" Harry prodded as he stood up and walked over to Ryou. The white haired boy shook his head and shrugged.
"It's nothing," was Ryou's glum reply. Harry honestly didn't know what to say. He had never seen Ryou so disheartened before.
"There had to be a reason you came here Ryou. You can tell me you know." Harry said as he led the boy to his bed so he could sit. Ryou offered no resistance, but he also didn't offer an answer.
"Voice in my head said to come here…." Ryou trailed off whatever he was going to say next. He was still looking down, but his eyes grew slightly more alert.
"I keep thinking about something from the past. On my way home last night, it was all I could think about. It's not exactly a pleasant memory." The boy said, casting only a single sideways glance towards Harry before training his gaze on the door and letting that dull look re-enter his eyes.
Harry furrowed his brow as he listened and watched Ryou. He looked over at his luggage from school before something finally seemed to click in his head. He had stormed out of the house shortly after Ryou had left last night. Surely he didn't run into…
"Ryou, did you make it home alright last night? Nothing weird happened right?" He asked and was disappointed by Ryou's shrug. "Was it really cold and really dark?" He pressed and Ryou nodded slowly, though he still seemed devoid of anything but misery. Harry sat in thought for a second and then headed towards his school stuff. He unclipped his suitcase, making sure to keep all of his wizarding supplies hidden from view, and dug around until he found a small pentagon shaped box. He closed his suitcase and placed the box on top, positioning his hand directly above the raised top of the box. Quickly he pressed down on the paper lid. Hopefully that would stop it from hopping. Harry glanced over his shoulder at Ryou, who was still staring aimlessly at nothing with a tiny frown on his face. Harry returned his attention to the box as he pulled a little wire out of it to open it. The chocolate frog was broken into pieces. He stood up and returned to Ryou's side.
"Here. Eat some chocolate. It'll make you feel better." Harry offered as he held the broken bite sized pieces up to Ryou. Ryou just stared at them.
"Seriously, chocolate makes me feel better when I feel down. It works. Trust me." Harry forced one of the pieces into Ryou's hand and waited until the white haired boy finally ate it. Ryou blinked his eyes and Harry was relieved to see the color slowly returning to his friend's face.
Harry waited as Ryou finished up the pieces of the wizarding world's best charmed chocolate treat. After a moment more, Ryou's eyes finally seemed to retrieve the warmth they usually held. He even blushed.
"Oh, I'm sorry Harry. I can't believe I ate that all by myself. I didn't leave any for you and it was your chocolate!" He immediately apologized and Harry just chuckled.
"It's fine Ryou. Besides, I have more where this came from." He replied but didn't wait for Ryou to respond. If the chocolate had worked, then Harry's fears could be true.
"Ryou, did anything weird happen last night?" He asked again. Ryou looked over at him and had a hesitant look on his face. Harry sighed… he'd take that as a yes. "What?"
"Well, it was kinda dark…and pretty cold for August. I don't know why, but I started getting upset for no reason at all. Then I couldn't stop thinking about…couldn't stop seeing…" He trailed off and looked away. Harry could see the traces of pain in Ryou's eyes. He wasn't sure what the memory was, but he understood completely. "Anyway, I don't really remember what happened afterwards." He admitted. Harry surveyed Ryou carefully. Darkness, cold, worst memories, along with Ryou's earlier attitude all pointed to a dementor attack. Harry wondered if the dementor had actually found Ryou or if it was just near him. It wasn't like muggles could see dementors, so asking Ryou directly would give him no answers.
Well, at least he was okay.
0
"So they put you under house arrest because your cousin fainted and they think you caused it? That's a little bit on the ridiculous side isn't it?" said Ryou with a tip of his head. Well, okay maybe it wasn't ridiculous for him.
"Yeah, but there's no reasoning with them. Especially on this type of thing." Harry said bitterly. Anything magic related was taboo in this house and although it was always the blame, it was never the excuse.
"Oh Ryou, earlier you said something about a voice telling you to come here." Harry had been curious about that strange sentence since Ryou had gone back to his normal self a few hours ago. He was guessing it was just the equivalent of some sort of instinct or a gut feeling. He had been nervous about bringing it up earlier, but Ryou seemed much better now, so maybe it wouldn't be an awkward question. One glance at Ryou's red face proved otherwise. The boy let out a forced little laugh and went quiet. Harry had no idea how to interpret that. Ryou finally seemed ready to cough up some sort of reply and already Harry doubted whatever was coming would be completely true, but the boy's head jerked towards the door. Next thing Harry knew, Ryou was under his bed. Harry just blinked and stared dumbly at the floor where his friend had vanished until he finally realized the door was opening. His head snapped up to see the red faced Vernon.
"BOY! How in the blazes did you unlock this door? You vile little…what did you do?" Spat the angry ogre of a man. When Harry did not even offer a single rebuttal, his uncle tensed and prepared to slam the door. He only stopped because Harry leapt to his feet and shouted wait. He had to think fast and he forced himself not to look at his bed as he steadily walked towards the side of his room. Vernon tracked him carefully.
"Well boy?" He growled and Harry sighed. What would work? If he didn't think of something fast, his uncle would end up locking Ryou in here too.
"Well, Dudley lost something pretty valuable. He's been looking all over the house for it you know and tried to get me to help him find it" He finally said. It wasn't a total lie, it just happened weeks ago. Vernon was looking at Harry suspiciously, but was still next to the door. "Want to know what he was looking for?" He goaded, but Vernon wasn't taking the bait.
"Hah! Don't be such a fool, boy." Laughed the man as he prepared to shut the door once more.
"Hah is right! You're just like your idiotic son. You know what, personally I'm starting to think he deserved what happened to him yesterday!" shouted Harry. That worked. The door slammed open and Vernon stormed over to Harry.
"You insolent – How DARE you" He yelled as he gripped the front of Harry's shirt. Harry just smiled which only made his uncle even angrier. He looked over his uncle's shoulder and caught a glimpse of something white flash by and out the bedroom door. Harry sighed in relief and kept quiet while his uncle spit his venom. Honestly he wouldn't wish a soul stealing demon on anyone, but it was all he could think to say to get his uncle away from the door. As expected, once Vernon finished screaming his lungs out, he locked every single lock on Harry's door. Harry instantly ran to the window and looked out. A quick scan of the sidewalks rewarded him with finding his target. Ryou smiled at him from across the street and waved before turning and walking away. Harry couldn't help but smile. He sighed again as he sat himself down on his bed. His hand hit cardboard and he looked down to see the box from the chocolate frog. He picked it up to throw it away, only to find a folded up piece of paper underneath. He unfolded the bit of paper and cocked an eyebrow at the little sentence that was scrawled across the paper.
"I'll stop by tomorrow night"
0
/He knows something. It's glaringly obvious./
"You're just being paranoid, Koe." Replied Ryou as he walked down the street. He wanted to get home and shower. He was a little disappointed in himself for not bothering to get changed today. Wearing the same outfit for a week straight was something the spirit did, not him.
/Would you focus on the situation at hand instead of your hygiene? /
Ryou sighed at the spirit's badgering. "I still don't see anything suspicious, Koe. Except for us." He replied with a shrug.
/He knew something was wrong/
"Well I wasn't really acting like myself."
/He knew the night was dark and cold/
"Yeah you could tell just by looking outside."
/He knew how to get rid of your weird depression shit/
"Chocolate triggers the release of endorphins in the brain that make you happy."
The spirit was growing steadily more irritated every time Ryou defended Harry, but really, the spirit wasn't putting up a very good argument. Ryou could feel the frustration rising through their mental link.
0
The white haired boy quickly and efficiently stacked the dirty plates and wiped down the table. He used both hands to carry the food covered plates and cups toward the back room. Someone called out to him and asked him a question. Ryou nodded as he dropped off the tray of dishes.
"He was a little upset. He said if I have another no show, he's going to let me go." Ryou explained as he washed his hands. His coworker nodded in understanding.
"What made you miss work yesterday anyway?" The woman asked as she began washing dishes.
"I didn't feel very well." Ryou replied calmly. He dried his hands and headed for the door. "Well, guess I've got to get back to work. See you later." He said politely. The woman smiled and continued washing. Ryou Bakura had been working at their little diner for almost a month now. He was a good kid and the rest of the staff warmed up to their youngest part time worker pretty quickly.
"Ryou, table number 5, then you're done for the day" called the host as the white haired boy walked by. Ryou gave a nod of acknowledgement and headed to greet the customers.
0
Ryou let out a gentle exhale as he untied the black half-apron around his waist. The diner was small and as a waiter he wasn't really paid all that much, but the people were nice enough and he really didn't need much to buy food. The only time he really disliked his work was on the off chance a fan of his came in. He recalled one particular incident where a small group of teenagers came in and where sat in his section. At first everything was normal except that one of the five kept staring at him. By the time he returned with their drinks, all of them were staring. It was unnerving to say the least. Doubly so when one of the girls in the group pulled out a cell phone to take a picture of him. They would find something to call him over for such as making him get them new drinks, but one drink at a time. This way he would have to come to the table more often. Finally one just broke down and asked if his last name was Bakura. Their hollering and chanting after Ryou nodded earned the group some nasty glares from the other customers and they were determined to make Ryou stay and talk to them as long as they could no matter how earnestly he explained that he had other guests to attend to. Hours later they finally left. They didn't even leave him a decent tip. On the bright side, the host never sat that group in Ryou's section again.
The boy shook his head and folded the little apron after removing the tips he had collected today. Hopefully Mr. Dursley would let him in this time. He told Harry he would visit and he didn't want to disappoint his friend.
Unfortunately the Dursleys were especially adamant about keeping 'that boy' locked in his room alone. This time the explanation was it was getting late, which was a pretty thin excuse. Ryou had come over this late before without issue. Still, it would be rude to just barge in, not to mention illegal. He frowned and walked across the street. He still had to thank Harry for the distraction the day before and he wanted to talk about how Harry had been treated by his uncle. He thought Harry was on better terms with his family now, but apparently they weren't.
0
Harry sighed as he watched Ryou cross the street. He knew his uncle wouldn't let him in. Especially after yesterday's little outburst. He watched lazily as Ryou stopped and turned around to survey the house. Their eyes met and Ryou smiled and offered what could only be considered an apologetic wave. Harry forced a weak smile on his own face and gave a half hearted wave back. He groaned as he heard the pounding of feet racing up the poor old stairs.
"Boy! Knock it off you hear me? Don't you wave to him! It's bad enough you've warped the poor boy's mind so he'd be your … your 'friend' " came a bark through the door. The word 'friend' was so forced and spat with such disgust Harry almost laughed. However, his annoyance about the whole situation overpowered any humor he may have gotten from his uncle's apparent jealously. He lay in his bed for the rest of the night, slightly disappointed Ryou hadn't been able to get in. He finally started wondering how Ryou had made it in before. Now that he thought about it, his friend had clearly snuck in; otherwise he wouldn't have had to sneak out. Who would have thought Ryou of all people would sneak into somebody's house like that? He did it all just to talk to him too.
Around the same time the next evening, Harry caught sight of Ryou being turned away again. He seemed visibly upset this time around, but Vernon was being strict about this. Harry watched as Ryou stopped a few steps down the street and turned to face his house again. He was wearing a tiny little pout on his face which Harry thought looked ridiculously funny. This was probably one of the reasons teenage boys shouldn't pout. Ryou said something and crossed his arms, then said something else. Harry couldn't help but note how much Ryou talked to himself. Well, he couldn't really blame him. He had done it himself numerous times. It came with living alone. Sure he had the Dursleys, but honestly it was probably no different than living by himself. Once again Harry collapsed onto his bed and cursed his bedroom shaped prison.
0
Ryou was a rosy shade of red as he fumbled with the bit of metal in his hands. At the back of his mind, the spirit of the ring was howling with laughter. The spirit tried to say something, but couldn't get a clear sentence out through the laughter and Ryou hung his head in shame. Finally the voice was quieting down as Ryou sat huddled beside the door, more than a little disappointed with himself. How had it come to this? He was a horrible person.
/Oh yes, so horrible for wanting to see your little friend. Stand up Yadonushi, this is far too amusing for you to give up now./ purred the voice. Ryou buried his head in his arms and mumbled something completely incoherent. Luckily the spirit of the ring didn't have to actually listen to Ryou to hear him.
/Aww, poor poor Yadonushi. Do you want me to help you?/ The voice was so taunting. Ryou leaned his cheek against his arm and looked at the locked door. A seed of distrust was in his mind.
/Come now Yadonushi. You're trying to sneak into this house aren't you? My innocent little Yadonushi wants to break the law./ the voice let out another laugh. He really seemed to be getting a kick out of this. Ryou knew it was a bad idea. He stood up and prepared to head for home, but suddenly his legs felt stiff.
/Koe? Ah! You didn't… Oh come on Koe!/
The boy chuckled again as he faced the door. He picked up the pathetic wire of a paperclip Ryou had been attempting to use and opened the door in seconds.
"You thought too much about it Yadonushi. Muscle memory. I've done this enough times for the body to know what to do," purred the spirit of the ring as he stepped inside with a smirk.
/Stop, this was a mistake! We should leave now. I shouldn't have brought us here. We should – Hey! Come on Koe, put that back!/
Bakura laughed aloud, though now that he was in control of the body, he kept his voice down. He quietly made his way upstairs and reached out a hand to touch the locks on the side of the bedroom door.
"Hush Yadonushi. You don't want to wake anyone…" snickered the spirit as the locks came undone one by one. He glanced sideways down the hall towards the master bedroom. He could see a shadow moving through the space beneath the door, but by the time that door opened, the thief was already gone.
0
Harry stared. Even without his glasses, the white blob he saw open his door and enter his room was unmistakable. Quickly he grabbed his glasses and pushed them onto his face.
"Ryou?" He asked, only to be instantly shushed by a smirking white haired boy. They stayed in silence as footsteps echoed down the hall, followed by the flush of a toilet. At last the white haired boy moved from his spot pressed against the wall and headed over to the bed.
"Yo." He said as he held up his hand in a makeshift greeting. Then he blushed and looked at his feet, letting that raised hand instantly go to his head. "Anou….I ….anou…"
Harry laughed quietly and sat properly on his bed. It was somewhat strange that Ryou had managed to sneak into his house at ten at night, but honestly he needed to have some sort of civilized talk with someone seeing as his family only yelled at him and his so called friends still hadn't written him a single bloody response to the letters he sent them.
"Ah, I see. You're finally getting even for that time I broke into your house right?" Harry said with a smile.
/Oh no worry there. We collected that debt weeks ago/ chuckled the spirit of the ring. Ryou's blushed deepened.
"I just wanted to check on you and say thanks. For helping me get away last time." Ryou finally found words, but his blush didn't want to fade. This was insane. It was something the spirit of the millennium ring would do, sneaking around at night and breaking into houses. What possessed him to do such a thing? Oh…right….
The spirit laughed yet again.
"How did you manage to get in here anyway?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. He was positive the door was locked.
"Anou, I just, well… the chain lock was easy enough and the rest, anou…just…anou…I'm good with locks?"
Harry just stared at Ryou a moment, biting back a laugh. "Oh" He chuckled. Ryou looked completely flustered and that reply was so obviously forced.
Ryou tried to recover from that terrible blunder of an excuse by explaining when he first started living alone, he'd forget his keys a lot. Instead of losing all of his pocket money calling the locksmith over and over and over again, he just learned to pick locks. It was a stretch, but far more believable than 'I have a voice in my head that likes to take over my body on go on the occasional thieving spree.'
"Here's another question. What does 'ano' mean? I've heard you say it before. Is it Japanese?" Harry asked and Ryou nodded, inwardly relieved they had moved past the subject of how he managed to break into Harry's house.
"I'm sorry about that. I guess I was nervous, slipping into Japanese like that. I suppose 'anou' could be translated to….um." Ryou explained. The way he used the word, it was just a thing to say to fill the silence. Some people say 'like' or 'um' and when Ryou didn't know what to say, 'anou' usually slipped out. Harry didn't seem to understand the explanation and was waiting for Ryou to finish. When Ryou gave him a curious look, Harry frowned.
"It can be translated to what?" He asked and Ryou smiled.
"Um. Or 'uh' I guess. It's meaningless." Even with this clarification it took a moment before understanding dawned on Harry's face. Ryou chuckled.
/Took him long enough. All your friends are slow./
Ryou frowned.
0
Once again Ryou found himself staring at the Dursley's door at 4 Privet drive. It was already late in the evening, but he had told Harry as he was leaving last night that he would try to visit again if he could.
/Why bother knocking today Yadonushi? You know they'll just turn you away again. Break in tonight too. That was much more entertaining/ the spirit began laughing again as the memories of Ryou's failed attempts to pick a lock the previous night flooded both of their minds.
Ryou kept quiet as he reached up his hand and gently knocked on the door. He watched as one of the Dursley's peeked out the window, and soon Harry's aunt Petunia opened the door.
"Good evening." Ryou said, polite as always. She greeted him back and instantly invited him in. Ryou was surprised but took advantage of the change in atmosphere. Even Vernon seemed much happier than he had been the past few days.
"Oh, Ryou my boy, how nice of you to stop by." The man greeted. Ryou was confused and he could feel the suspicion building within the spirit of the ring.
"I'm here to visit Harry." Ryou decided to fire this bullet now rather than later. Vernon apparently anticipated that, although he couldn't hide all of the distaste from his face at the request.
"Harry has already left for school. Did he ever tell you he attends St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys?" Vernon said happily, eager to break whatever bond Harry and Ryou had managed to build over the summer. Ryou stared at Vernon a moment before finally replying with a flat 'yes'. This surprised the man who seemed a little put out.
"Sorry to disturb you then. I should go." Ryou bowed and instantly headed out the door, ignoring the calls for him to wait.
Harry already left for school? But it was still early August! And yes, he said he went to St. Brutus', but he left out the 'Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys' part. Harry didn't seem like a criminal though. Why would they send him there? Then again, the Dursley's seemed unreasonably happy to have Harry gone. Maybe they sent him there because they have it in their minds that something really is wrong with Harry. Could a family actually feel so completely disgusted with their own kin? If anything, something was wrong with the Dursleys.
