Hey Everyone, Welcome to the first chapter of my Harry Potter and Yugioh Crossover. Or at least the second attempt of my crossover, but hey I'm a perfectionist and sometimes you just have to rewrite, you know?
Thank you to Vampiregirl 31 and for beta-ing this!... Is beta-ing even a word?
Disclaimer: I, Child You are Hell Bent do not claim any ownership over the show Yugioh or the book series Harry Potter. Although as this story is published on Fanfiction I do hope that was obvious.
It was late afternoon for Arthur Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. At first the tall, thin man with a brilliant, receding shock of bright red hair, had no idea what to make of the nearly folded and charmed paper Aeroplane that had landed on his highly cluttered desk. The Ministry used the planes for inter departmental memos, but this one made no sense.
The message written inside gave no clues onto its purpose, other than the fact he was to go up to the Auror's office at 20:00 that evening, nothing more. Arthur could only assume that there was a job for him to do. Such a request was not completely uncommon. On more than one occasion, Arthur had been dragged down to a different department because a fellow wizard had found something from the Muggle world. A muggle was a human who –somehow- managed to survive without magic. But to be able to do this, they had developed many inventions. Some of them where quiet brilliant.
Things like electricity and Rubber ducks for example, these things where truly a mystery to most modern day wizards. They required specialists like Arthur to help understand them. Although he never had the Auror's require him for anything along these lines. Usually the Minister's elite magical enforcement would never bother themselves with something as 'petty' as Muggle technology.
And yet?
Arthur groaned as he flicked his wand into the air in front of him. From the tip, a small stream of light streamed into the air, twisting into the current time. "19:30" the red head wizard grumbled under his breath as he placed the Rubik's cube he had been fiddling with for the last hour, back onto his desk.
"Guess I've better go"
Still slightly agitated Arthur pulled himself to his feet. The plain wooden chair scraped on the tile floor, and he winced as the loud noise echoed around the small room. Due to the immense lack of funding, the misuse of Muggle Artifacts office was tiny. There was barely enough room for the two men that worked there. And any loud noise was instantly amplified to incredible amounts. This at times could easily push nerves to their breaking points. Thankfully however, the only other person in the room, Perkins, slept on, his hearing horn resting in his lap.
With a forceful squeeze, Arthur pushed his way through the small space that separated the desks in the small room. Pausing, Arthur took a few seconds to quickly scribble a note onto a piece of paper and placed it on Perkins' desk, right in front of the aging wizard's nose.
Quickly he pushed the small door open and slipped into the hallway. As usual the wide walk way was filled to the brim with wizards walking this way and that. In the middle of the hall, a long line of workers stood, waiting for the lifts that could take them to the different departments. Normally Arthur would be careful to avoid such a line up. Generally leaving before or after the horde showed up, since joining this line could easily take at least a half an hour.
Impatiently Arthur pushed his way past the lineup, thanking Merlin that his office was on the same floor as that of the Auror's. If he had to have taken the lift, there wasn't a chance he would be on time. Arthur walked down the long hallway of the Department of Magical Law enforcement. This was the largest of the departments inside the Ministry of Magic, and if luck would have it the Auror's office was on the completely other side of the floor. It took Arthur the entire half an hour that he had set aside to get to there.
Panting slightly, Arthur stood in front of the doorway that marked the entrance to the Auror's office. From inside he could see the lines of open cubicles. From inside he could see all of the Auror's talking among them self's. Some he recognized: Kingsley Shaklebolt, Alastor Moody with his newest protégé, Nymphadora Tonks, tailing along behind him and a few others. But Arthur paid them no heed, besides returning their waves. Instead his attention was drawn to the group of men that stood in the back of the hallway.
The Minister for Magic was there, standing beside 4 or 5 employees that Arthur did not recognize. Their uniforms where completely off from the clothes a normal Auror would wear. A striking shade of royal blue with silver lining, and the ministry's personal seal stitched over the heart with a pair of wands crossed underneath.
The Minster, Cornelius Fudge was waving for Arthur to come over to them, his bowler hat placed perfectly on his head. Putting the odd uniforms out of his head for now, Arthur squared his shoulders slightly and forcing a grin onto his face. He walked down to where the Cornelius stood, accepting when the Minster for Magic reached out to shake his hand.
"Arthur, just the man I needed" Cornelius said happily when the handshake ended. "I was glad that you were able to come. I do hope that I was not interrupting anything."
Arthur inclined his head slightly, "It is no problem Minister, and I had already finished my work for the day when I got your memo."
"Good, very good. Now if you do not mind, could you just follow me? I have a job that requires your rather… unique… talents." Cornelius said waving his hand to the heavy wooden door that stood behind him. Arthur blinked as the heavy door swung open with a painful groan. Had there ever been a door their before? Once the door was fully opened, the Minister of magic proceeded to walk inside.
But Arthur did not move. In a couple of minutes, the minister realizing that he was not followed turned around, a questioning look on his slightly plump face as he surveyed Arthur, waiting for an explanation.
"Minister, before we proceed, I have a question for you. If you do not mind me asking, from what department are these men from? I have to admit, I have never seen them before." Arthur asked, flicking his eyes to the people behind him.
Cornelius smiled as he surveyed the group of witches and wizards that where gathered behind him. "These, my friend, are a new addition to the department of magical Law enforcement: The United Protection office. A hand selected group of witches and wizards from the departments of Magical law enforcement, Regulation and Control of Magical creatures and the Department of Mysteries. They are tasked with the job of trying to establish some stability, now that our world is back to times of peace. And to prevent the terror of another He Who Must Not Be Named from ever surfacing." he said proudly, patting one of the witches fondly on the head. "And I must say, only a week after their inception, I can already consider this new office a success."
Arthur's head perked up at this, the words already burrowing a permanent hole into his memory. "Success?" he asked carefully. The minister nodded as he started to walk down the hallway, and this time Arthur moved to follow him.
"Yes, definitely a success. They managed to detain the leader of a band of dark creatures that no one has ever seen before. But it is difficult to explain, better that I show you. But first I must welcome you to the United Protection office."
When Arthur entered the hallway, he was instantly shocked. He had been expecting the dark bricks that made up most of the Ministry, the only real lighting coming from the trick windows and torches. And yet… In here it was light and airy. The delicate looking winding steel staircase wound down to the floor below. The walls where made out of some sort of white brick, which almost seemed to glow with their own light.
It was then that Arthur realized where his request for more funding had gone. He did not even want to think of the price tag on this place. The main floor was made of more of that odd white brick. Inside it was designed as the larger version of the Auror cubical. Each one separated by glass, so perfect that it gleamed liked diamonds. Arthur could see several offices, as well as a small cafeteria and a lounge style room. Each one of these areas had at least one person dressed in the united protection uniforms. They were all talking among themselves in a rather carefree manner. But every single one of them looked up when the Minister walked by. Arthur noticed, however, that the group that was following them had not broken off to join their fellows.
"As you can see, we have wasted no expense for these brave men." Cornelius stated proudly as they continued to walk through the large area. "And of course, the generous donation from the Malfoy family was exceedingly helpful in making this dream a reality."
Smiling and nodding Arthur wished the man would just get on with whatever this was. The Minister however was keen on finishing his tour. Describing, in full detail, the many amenities that this new office had to offer.
It wasn't until they reached the very end that the mood shifted into something far more serious. The group had come to a halt in front of a beautifully carved door, covered in delicate glyph. It was the first door Arthur had seen since entering the United Protection Office, and it seemed slightly out of place.
All happy-go-lucky facts were gone. All the brags about the newest features had disappeared without a trace when the door was opened and the Minster pushed his way inside.
"Arthur what lies behind this door is highly confidential. Do you understand? I trust you not to reveal this to anyone, not even your own family."
"W-what?"
The Minister didn't respond. Instead he continued to walk further into the room. There was no one here. The hall was completely empty, devoid of the chatter that had filled the other room. Instead the only people Arthur saw were the occasional Medi-Witch or Wizard of all people.
'Bizarre…' Arthur thought to himself as the fifth Medi-Witch pushed past, oblivious in her haste to get to where ever she was going. Beside him Cornelius shook his head sadly.
"Did they have to bring in another?" Arthur heard him ask to one of the wizards behind him. Out of the corner of Arthur's eye, he could see the man nod. Cornelius sighed. "I still can't believe this happened."
Blinking, Arthur trained his eyes to follow the Medi witch. She was wearing the same pale green as those from St. Mungo's. So what was she, and so many others like her, doing at the Ministry?
The witch quickly moved to a room to Arthur's left. It took no time for him to summarize it was a med room.
The large room was filled with rows of unconscious witches and wizards that lay on pristine sheets. And the St. Mungo's transfers that Arthur had saw earlier scurried between the beds, checking vitals, slipping potions down throats.
Cornelius followed Arthur's gaze, and his eyes saddened immensely. "28 people," He said solemnly, taking off his bowler hat in respect, "injured in the fight to restrain the creature that we hold here."
"Wouldn't they be better off at St. Mungo's?" Arthur asked staring at the prone body of the wizard closest to him. The man's face was deathly pale. Sweat gleamed all over his face as he tossed and turned. Arthur was surprised to hear the man whimpering, even through the glass. He seemed to be having a nightmare.
Cornelius shook his head. "We can't have this getting out to the public; the Prophet would have a field day. Besides that, I sincerely doubt there is anything St. Mungo's could do to help them.
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked sharply, tearing his gaze away from the glass enclosed med room to stare at the Minister of Magic.
"Take a look Arthur, half of these men have been unconscious for more than a month, showing symptoms of chronic nightmares. They won't wake up, no matter what we've tried. It's like they have been locked in their subconscious. No one has ever even heard of a spell that could do that."
"And what about the rest…?" Arthur asked hesitantly, no one hundred percent sure that he wanted the answer.
Cornelius didn't replay at first. Instead he turned and rested his forehead against the glass wall. "Soulless." Cornelius whispered finally "they're empty shells now. Just like a Dementor's kiss. But that thing didn't even touch them; they all just dropped like flies.
The colour drained from Arthur's face, and his breath caught in his throat. His heart started pounding with the implications of what Cornelius had said. There was no way in Merlin's beard that anything could do such a thing. It wasn't magically possible. There wasn't a way it could be magically possible. "What is this… thing?" Arthur asked, his voice wavering slightly, but he didn't care at the moment.
The frown on the Ministers face deepened as he moved away from the med-station, and continued down the hall. "It's this way." Cornelius said grimly. "But be warned, what I'm about to show you is going to be the VERY, last thing you are expecting. You cannot be fooled. And you must swear to me that you will not allow personal feelings to get in the way of your job. If you can't do this, I am going to have to ask you to leave."
Slowly, foolishly, Arthur nodded: it wouldn't be a problem. That he could take anything that the Minister threw at him. Later, he would regret agreeing so quickly. But at the moment, it wasn't an issue. The way the Minister had been describing this… this thing, Arthur was sure that he had it envisioned in his mind. Tall, sickly, disgusting…. probably rotting.
Whatever he had been expecting when the Minister opened the last, and heavily locked and charmed door, this wasn't it…
There in the centre of the room, lay a teenage boy. He barely looked older than his son Percy. 15 maybe 16… His wrists and ankles were bound to the table by wand conjured ropes, and around his neck was a thick metal collar with the numbers 2189. Arthur assumed that they were a serial number of sorts. The teen was unconscious, but anything from relaxed. He was deathly pale, his tinged a slight blue, brows drawn up tight, sweat gleaming on his forehead, and his eyes squeezed painfully shut.
"Who is that?" Arthur wondered out loud. He looked like a muggle, judging from the tight, dark wash jeans that the teen was wearing, as tattered as they were. But he had never seen hair like that before in his life. Spiked above his head in a star shape, black in colour, with red tips and… blond bangs?
A sneer formed on the Ministers face, instantly filling Arthur's worries. "No way…" Arthur breathed. "Is this kid it?" he choked out. Cornelius nodded as he walked closer to the teen.
"This is it alright." Cornelius said. "He looks almost innocent like this, doesn't he? At least when he is bound, and his magic sealed…. No one would ever guess what kind of monster this thing really is."
Cornelius voice sounded pleased, self-satisfied. But all Arthur could do was stare. The teen was shirtless, and his chest was covered in bruises, spell burns and cuts. The worst of which was just above his left collarbone.
A deep, half healed, crescent shaped gauge, which had been left, untreated. It looked horribly infected, red and inflamed. Blood also ran down from underneath the metal collar. Probably where the metal had rubbed it beyond raw, the metal looked to be tight enough around his throat. Arthur could feel his fingers twitching to loosen the object, was that the reason the poor kid's breathing looked so forced?
Following Arthur's gaze, Cornelius too stared at the collar. "Nice isn't it?" he said, running a finger over the smooth metal, running his fingers over the numbers. "It's something developed by the Department of Mysteries. It blocks nerve impulses; more specifically the one's which connect ones magical abilities to the brain. We weren't sure that it was going to work at first, but it seems to function the same way it would on a human. With some side effects, the collar seems to sap its energy, which makes it so much easier for us to deal with.
"Of course it does." Arthur wanted to say sarcastically, but he didn't have the chance. A soft groan echoed around the room, and the teen started to shift slightly. Both men turned around in time to see brilliant amethyst eyes open. It was that moment that Arthur could swear he could hear his heart shattering. Even through the hazy film produced from the fever –probably from the wound on his collar bone- and pain, Arthur could see the fear. The child was terrified.
And yet Arthur seemed to be the only one who cared… As soon as the poor thing had woken up, the Minister had been over in a second, forcing his own face into his. The child cringed away, his head shaking from side to side desperately. But Cornelius hadn't noticed… or maybe he had, because his smirk seemed to have grown.
Seconds after the teen had awoken the room had filled. Five men filed into the room, pulling out their wands and pointing them at the boy. These were men that Arthur recognized. All five of them where from the Magical Law enforcement office: Legilimens specialists.
"What are you doing?" Arthur yelled, staring at the men wildly, realizing their intent. "You'll kill him!"
"It's a necessary risk." Cornelius said with a shrug, as if he wasn't talking about a human being, a child. "Besides I doubt this will kill it. This thing was already to block 4 of my men."
"Are you insane?" Arthur practically screamed, moving to stand in front of the teen. "Even Dumbledore could not survive or block that kind of assault. You have no right to do this!"
"You will find that I have every right Mr. Weasley." Cornelius countered calmly, spreading his hands diplomatically. "You saw what that thing did to my men; it's not human! It's our duty to find out what this thing is and to be sure that there is nothing else like it running free out there!"
Arthur clenched his fists tightly, his jaw working. "That isn't a thing, it's a scared child!"
"I was afraid this would happen." The Minister said, shaking his head with a wary smile. "It's why we have been hesitant to have anyone with kids on this. but you were the only one with the necessary skill-set." He sighed, looking at Arthur with an odd expression on his face. When he spoke again however, his gaze had hardened and his voice was steely cold. Arthur was forced to remember, that despite his bumbling appearance, their Minister was not a man to be underestimated. "What happens here is not open to debate Mr. Weasley, mind your place."
"Then why am I here?" Arthur gritted out from between clenched teeth.
Cornelius's face went back to its calm expression, knowing that he had won the round. "There's one last thing that I wanted to show you." He said, settling his bowler hat back on his head with a smile that was far too content. "We took a few items off of it when it arrived, and they seemed Muggle in nature. So we hoped that you would know something about them."
"I might." Arthur said grudgingly, but he made no effort to hide the disgust in his voice. But as a Ministry working, Arthur knew that he had no choice to do as he was bid. That didn't stop Arthur from taking one final glance over his shoulder, too look at the pitiful form tied down beside him. Amethyst where staring back, wide and unblinking. They looked so lonely, so hurt that Arthur couldn't hold his gaze, and he turned back almost as quickly.
"Where's the objects?"'
Cornelius flipped his hand to the far corner of the room, drawing Arthur's attention to a low table that was pressed up against the far wall. On the centre of the table were two, identical steel boxes, the sides so high that Arthur couldn't see the contents. Nor, could he assume, could the teen. Reaching a hand into one of the boxes, Arthur pulled out a stack of paper cards with odd designs.
"They're cards…" Arthur said, flipping one of the brown backed cards over. On the reverse side there was a drawing of a small round monster covered in brown fur with short green claws and bright yellow and purple eyes. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, immobile and simply drawn like all muggle pictures, it seemed like nothing but the paper was worn and obviously well loved. "Muggle's use them to play games with, kind of like what we do with exploding snap."
He flipped another one over, and then another, looking at the designs. "But theses seem to be different than normal cards. There is no pattern to these…no similar numbers or suits, or at least none that I can tell. On the other hand they seem to be written in Japanese or maybe Chinese, so I could be missing something."
Nodding Cornelius watched as Arthur placed the cards back into the box, and reached into the next one. Thick, oddly shaped metal pieces ran over Arthur's fingers. Grasping onto a handful, he slowly pulled them from their confines, and Arthur could feel his jaw drop. "Oh my…" he breathed, holding one of the pieces one of the pieces up to the light. "What a treasure."
"What is it?" The Minster asked suddenly, pulling Arthur out of his daze.
"I've never seen anything like it. " Arthur breathed as he ran his finger over the smooth surface. "At first glance it seems to be a muggle toy. A Puzzle or a Jig-see as the Muggle's call them. You put all of the little pieces together to make one large picture." Arthur said as he held up two pieces together and attempted pushed them together to make his point. They didn't fit, but Cornelius seemed to get the picture. "This one is slightly different. It seems to be three dimensional, and a lot sturdier than a normal puzzle, which is usually made of cardboard."
Cornelius frowned. "It's a muggle toy?" he asked incredulously, eye brow to the ceiling . "Well, isn't that just dandy."
"Minister, you could have just sent this to my office. Why did you bring me down here?"
Snorting, Cornelius took one of the Puzzle pieces from Arthur's hand. "Because of this." He said darkly, before raising his voice enough to carry across the room. "Look what have 2189" He said to the teen, holding the piece between his thumb and forefinger for the kid to see. He was slow to react, blinking owlishly as the words processed in a mind taxed to it's breaking point, Slowly the teen's head turned to the Ministers voice however, and the moment he did, all hell broke loose.
The teen started to thrash violently, back arching as he desperately trying to pull free of his bounds. "Give it back!" he cried, hoarse and so shrill that Arthur had to resist the urge to clap his hands over his ears. "Please, I need. I… I have to put it back… please!" The soul searing cries quickly turned to hysterics and the words turned into half formed screams. Arthur could see the tears running non-stop down the child's face, his entire body shaking violently. "He needs me!"
Satisfied with his example, Cornelius turned his back to the shrieking child, and placed the piece in Arthur's hand as if nothing had happened. "Would you shut that thing up"! he shot over his shoulder to one of the men behind him. But Arthur knew it wasn't because the child's screams where affecting him as they should have, he was just silencing an annoyance. A few moments passed, and the piercing wailing turned into a chocking noise as the teen's vocal cords where forcibly squeezed shut by a curse one did not use in polite society. Despite his forcibly silence, the child never stopped fighting; and his throat worked silently as he continued to pull against his restraints. Blood had began to pool on the table.
"Did you see that?" Cornelius said, exasperation written in every ounce of his tone. "It's the only way we can get him react. About a week after we brought him here, one of our witches, -Katelynn O'Hara I believe, nice girl, absolutely brilliant- suggested that we melt the one of the pieces, to study it in a liquid state." Arthur could only imagine how well that must have went. "2189 did something, even with the collar on he attacked her with magic; it was almost pure light! It was passed out for an entire week, and O'Hara is still in St. Mungo's with third degree burns all over her body. She's going to be scarred for life."
Arthur didn't believe it; how could a child so something so horrible. Despite his disbelief however, Arthur became instantly aware that he was handling the pieces with much more care than before. He was instantly disgusted that he was now treating them as if they would bite him.
"Do notice anything else Arthur?" Anything could help?" Cornelius asked, and that in itself was almost worthy of miracle status. "Would you be able to piece it together maybe?"
The question probably hadn't seemed that odd to Cornelius, but Arthur couldn't chock down a burst of laugher. It was cold and emotionless, barely more than a bark of disbelief. "put it together?" he chocked. "Goodness me, no. There's no pattern. Except for the edges, all the pieces look the same; I'd have no idea what it is supposed to look like. I don't want to know how long this took the kid to do; Explains why he won't crack, Probably more stubborn than a hippogriff."
Cornelius' face fell, but Arthur raised his hand. 'On the other hand… This puzzle is a lot more than it seems. I don't know if you realized this but this thing is pure gold."
"Yes, we knew that already… besides the economic value, it didn't seem important." Cornelius replied with an absent wave of his hand.
But Arthur shook his head. "Actually it is important. You see in some cultures, Ancient Egypt specifically, gold was used for a conductor for magical abilities; similar to our wands, but not quite."
'Cornelius blinked, leaning forward in surprise. "That's brilliant. How did you know that?"
"My eldest, Bill. He's a Curse-Breaker for Gringrotts."
The largest smile Arthur had seen in a very long time spread across Cornelius' face. It made Arthur feel sick to his stomach. "Of course." Fudge breathed, running a hand down his chin in thought. "The Puzzle glowed when they were first attacked, and again when we removed it. And a light came from the box when O'Hara was hurt."
"Minister what is this all about?" Arthur began, and he could feel the helpless slowly begin to grow once more like festering splinter. "what is going to happen to the child!"
"Thank you Mr. Weasley, you may go now. Security will lead you out."
Arthur swore under his breath as two burly men in dark blue came to stand on either side of him. By explaining the Puzzle, he had given up his usefulness, and his leverage. One of the man reached out to grab his forearm, but Arthur pulled away before he could make contact, and walked out the room. As he went however, Arthur turned his head over his shoulder one last time to watch grimly as each of the Legilimens specialists pointed their wands at the teen. He came to a shuddering stop, unable to move as he watched the teens back arch off the table, his mouth open in a soundless scream.
As if a million miles away, Arthur could dimily feel hands on his shoulders, preventing him from trying to run to the child. And as the Teen's screams broke through the silencing spell, and started to fill the room with a sound he would never forget, Arthur realized how real his attempts to break free were. The screams caused tears to run unashamedly down his face for a reason Arthur couldn't name. It felt like he was watching one of his own children being tortured mercilessly. It tugged at his heart, squeezing it tight. Arthur felt like he was drowning in his helplessness. He couldn't help…
"It's time to leave Mr. Weasley." A gruff voice whispered in his ear. Arthur wanted to resist, but he was dragged bodily from the room as if he weighed nothing at all. Before he truly knew what was happening he was back in the Auror's office, which was thankfully empty. Arthur didn't bother to return to his office as he had originally planned. Instead he sprinted up the rarely used staircase, to the main floor as fast as his legs could carry him. He ignored every single one of his body's protests at the action, not even stopping when the stitch in his side, threatened to make him sick. He had to leave the Ministry. He needed to go home. He needed to tell Dumbledore what was happening here. If there was anyone that could help the poor teen, it was the Head Master of Hogwarts. Because if he didn't…
A violent shudder ripped down Arthur's spine. As soon as he finished with Dumbledore, Arthur swore that he was going to give each one of his sons a hug. No matter how much they fought. He would need it after today, the knowledge that they were all home and safe.