Hey, everyone! I'm not too satisfied with this chapter but I'm really trying to rush so everyone can get to Hogwarts already! -sigh- Classes are on the go right now so it'll take another while for an update. Enjoy please!

- Chapter 12 -

The Power of Voodoo

Harry could see the thing was sleeping while sitting upwards, snoring pleasantly even as the sun shined brightly above them. The 'Wiseman' that William the worm had mentioned had been exactly where he had said Harry would find him. Silently, he wondered why he was called the Wiseman…

"A boy! A boy!"

Harry paused and turned to the sleeping figure as a voice continued to screech. The bearded creature with the huge nose wasn't moving his lips as he snorted awake and blearily opened his eyes. It was…the hat? The hat was long and sat above the old man's long, bushy white eyebrows. But as Harry couldn't help himself but move closer to the thing, he saw the beak of the little head at the tip of the hat. It was a bird!

"A boy! Wake up! Look! A boy!" the hat continued to shriek. Harry could picture it sprouting wings and flapping wildly if it were possible.

"Would you BE QUIET!" the Wiseman shouted, eyes turned upward to glare at the bird. Unfortunately, Harry doubted that the Wiseman could even see the top of his loud hat.

"Fine." the hat squawked. "But see…a boy! Just like I said."

"Er…hullo." said Harry.

The Wiseman finally caught notice of the young wizard and nodded at him. "I believe you'll be asking for directions too, eh?"

"Actually…a little worm already told me how to get to the city." admitted Harry. "But thanks anyway."

The hat snorted rudely. "Hah! See how much a 'Wiseman' knows!"

The Wiseman frowned but smiled at Harry. "But I believe you've lost some friends, perhaps?"

"Yes! Do you know where I can find them?" asked Harry. "I shouldn't enter the city without them. Do you know if they're alright?"

"He wouldn't know!" the hat snorted.

"He should! He is called 'the Wiseman', isn't he?"

"I've been stuck on this idiot's head for centuries, kid, and I ain't heard a single wise thing come outta his mouth!"

Harry turned to the Wiseman with another question but saw the old fellow's eyes had drooped and he had begun to snore.

"WAKE UP!" yelled the hat.

Snort! "Oh, what? Oh, yes, this boy here… You want to find your friends then?" Harry nodded quickly. "They are in the forest. One is beginning to realize he is special."

"Special?" echoed Harry. "You must be talking about my friend Toby. What's in that forest anyway?"

Harry didn't like the way that the Wiseman's face turned grim. "The forest that lies beyond the junkyard is very evil. The Labyrinth created it to protect his Majesty's castle and subjects within the city. Few runners ever leave that forest."

Harry paled at his words. "What's inside it?"

"You should know by the forest's name." said the Wiseman. "It is the Forest of Nightmares."

Harry shivered involuntarily as images of what he believed would be his nightmares if he had been in the forest at that moment. He wasn't too sure what Toby had in his nightmares… Would it harm Toby, Sir Didymus and Ludo?

"Do you know any way to defeat whatever's in there?" Harry was sure that if he entered the forest, a dementor would pop up…or Voldemort… "What if my friends have nightmares of drowning or fire or death?"

"The must realize what they are seeing can not truly harm them." answered the Wiseman calmly.

"What should they do if they face death?"

"They should realize, my boy…that death is but the next great adventure."

Harry stared long and hard into the large eyes that were hiding under those thick eyebrows. His mind flashed back to his predicament in the junkyard…with Sirius… This Labyrinth was trying to tell him things that were not in even related to Toby's run.

Harry flashed the Wiseman a grateful smile.

"Um…thanks. I think I should probably get going." said Harry as he pulled his wand out. "Uh…could you thank the Wiseman if he wakes back up?" he asked the hat who was grumbling. Indeed, the Wiseman was once again sleeping on his seat and snoring loudly.

"Please leave a contribution in the little box!" the hat squawked at Harry.

Harry searched his pockets and found a sickle. "Would this be okay? I don't think you use our currency down here—"

"Just drop it in!" the hat said hastily. Harry did so and it clattered in the box loudly. "Thank you."

Harry nodded at the hat before speeding down the lane he remembered the worm had pointed out. He turned to his left and saw that there were no more turns…and what looked to be the silhouettes of tree branches at the far end of the passage. 'Well…there's the Forest of Nightmares…' thought Harry with a gulp. 'I hope I'll run into Toby and the others soon…'

"Lumos…" he whispered to his wand. He couldn't see much past the few feet that the light of his wand provided him with.

Harry reached the end of the lane and stepped into the dark shadows under the looming trees. The ground was moist and sometimes he could hear the drops of water falling into nearby puddles.

"KITTY BAD!"

"Ludo?"

He could hear Ludo's distant cries and soon the floor began to jostle as Ludo stampeded towards Harry's direction. Ludo had seen Harry's wand glowing and he frantically made his way towards it.

"Hawee! KITTY! NO!" Ludo cried as he moved behind Harry for safety.

Harry pointed his wand from the direction Ludo had scampered off from. He began to go over a few spells and hexes in his head as he prepared for the giant cat to step out of the shadows.

"Meow!"

Ludo gave a terrified roar and trembled in his shaggy fur behind the teenage wizard. "Kitty BAD, Hawee!"

Harry lowered his wand slightly as a Calico cat showed walked toward them, curious yellow eyes studying the giant beast that was cowering behind Harry. It gave another mew and started to scratch its ear with its hind leg.

Harry turned to his friend and pulled as hard as he could so Ludo wasn't hiding his eyes with his hands. "Ludo, listen to me. It's okay. Nothing in this forest can hurt us. Don't run away from it. Look, please, Ludo! Look at the cat." Harry managed to have the giant beast uncover his eyes. Slowly, Ludo squinted his eyes open as he trembled in fear. "See? The cat isn't coming near us anymore. The kitty just wants to say hi."

Ludo nodded but stayed near Harry as they continued to go deeper into the forest. They had to find their other friends.

Harry shivered as an ominous chill started to creep along his skin. He knew it would be coming soon…

"Ludo, stick behind me. Please trust me. I'll protect you. Remember, nothing in this forest can harm you!" Harry said quickly as he raised his wand defensively. His green eyes scanned the area around them carefully and soon, his eyes caught the gliding figure that started to come closer to the two.

Ludo whimpered as he caught sight of the dark, hooded creature.

"It's okay, Ludo. I won't let it hurt you." whispered Harry.

'It's not a real dementor. The forest is just turning your mind against you! Now…happy thoughts… Professor Binns won't be teaching my history class anymore!' Harry grinned to himself even as he shuddered from the chill again. 'I've met three new friends: Toby, Ludo and Sir Didymus! I'm going to turn sixteen in a few days! I'll be returning to Hogwarts soon, away from the Dursleys!'

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The creature stepped back as a silvery wisp escaped the glowing tip of Harry's wand and formed into the majestic shape of a proud stag. The patronus galloped toward the dementor as it finally fled back to the shadows. Soon, both Harry and Ludo felt the depressive chill release them and Ludo had Harry in a very hairy hug.

'Heh, hairy hug…'

"Comrades! Are thoust of good health?" Sir Didymus called as he rode up to them on Abrosius's back. "The foul creatures of this forest are of cowardly nature. Not a single dragon would come near me in battle!"

"Yeah, we're fine. Where's Toby?" asked Harry as Ludo took the little dog creature into a hug.

"Sir Tobias got separated from us in the midst of my dragon hunting and Sir Ludo's feline fiend."

The three turned as they heard the terrified screams of the ten year old. "Toby!" Harry yelled as he broke into a speedy dash towards the other child's screaming. He wasn't sure what he was going to face but he gripped his wand tighter as Toby's yelling got louder. "Toby, where are you?"

Toby yelled again and Harry stopped as the light of his wand caught sight of strange creatures.

They were not Underground goblins but as tall as the Gringotts goblins from the Aboveground. The ears of the creatures were large, pointed and bat-like that lacked the softness of House Elf ears. The face of the creature looked like a permanent snarl with pointed teeth and snake-like contours. They walked with their long arms dragging on the floor in a primitive style and were snickering fiendishly.

There were about a handful of them and they were surrounding something…

"Harry!" Toby cried from the midst of the creatures.

Harry held up his wand and the creatures flinched at the light. He could see Toby more clearly as the creatures began to disperse away from them, Toby looking pale and his shoulders held stiffly.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry as he forced the younger boy to look at him. He could see that Toby was still terribly frightened. "What were those things? Did they hurt you?"

He shook his head stiffly. "G-Gremlins… My sister used to tell me stories about them and o-once I saw a movie with them in it and I…" He shuddered and shut his eyes tightly.

"It's okay, Toby, your friends are here with you now." The blonde boy still had his lower lip trembling and Harry recognized the hopeless defeat in his eyes. "Cheer up, mate! I know the way to the castle and we're almost there! See that light over there? You almost made it out of this forest on your own, Toby!"

The younger boy felt a smile come to his lips and his fright from before diminished completely with Harry's next words.

"I'm proud of you, Toby. You were very brave tolerating those gremlins as long as you did."

"Really?"

Harry gave him a sure smile. "Yeah, I'm sure your sister would be very proud of you too. Now we're very close to the Goblin city and we'll get your sister back soon!"

The four friends stuck close together, Sir Didymus and Ludo flanking the two boys as closely as possible without stepping on each other and Harry with his wand out, a protective hand on Toby's shoulder. They found the light they stepped into refreshing, their surroundings no longer imprisoning them between trees and the forbidding darkness.

Large iron wrought gates stood before them, marking the entrance to the Goblin City.

The four were now bathed in the light and the snarled trees of the forest were behind them. Harry looked over his friends and saw they too wore the same relieved faces as he did. Toby looked determined.

"Toby?" Harry asked, kneeling in front of Toby. How…? "Why is your sleeve burned like this?" he asked as he inspected the charred tips of Toby's right sleeve.

Toby's eyes widened. "I forgot…I-I...back in the forest with the gremlins…I remember how you created fire with your wand before and I sort of hoped that fire would scare the gremlins away…"

Harry was staring wide eyed at the boy.

"And, I dunno, the fire just appeared in my hand. But I'm fine, I didn't get burned or anything."

Harry's face broke into a wide grin. "You did magic! …well, accidental magic…but MAGIC! Toby, you're a wizard!"

A/N: Please leave me a review! And -gasp- Toby's a wizard! Who would'a guessed, huh? That was sort of obvious wasn't it? Thank you to all the reviewers so far! They made me smile/laugh/jump up and down.