"Boy, what is your name?" The shabby looking wizard asked him as Toby tried to make sense of what just happened.
"Toby Williams, Prince of the Labyrinth."
"I was under the impression that Goblins couldn't use wands."
"They can't. Like you I'm a wizard."
"A fairly young one at that. Are you related to Robert Williams?" He said still holding his wand at the ready.
"Yes, he's my father." Toby held his head high trying to make sure this man knew he was proud of this fact.
"Does your Father know you're a Death Eater?"
"A what! The nerve of you! I maybe Slytherin but I'll have you know I never go near the dark arts!"
"Then why you trying to gather Goblin to join with You-Know-Who?" he asked quizilled. He didn't believe this young boy yet, but there was an air about him that you could almost trust. He didn't want to buy into it though.
"Is that what Gringotts told you? Believe that hook line and sinker did you? This battle has nothing to do with the wizard wars! It's a grudge match between two head goblins about past misdeeds! Boy have they took you for a loop." His rival kept his wand in hand but let it fall to the side after he conjured a pair of chairs. After offering Toby one they both sat.
"I was under the impression that all the goblins worked for Gringotts. According to our history the goblin who found the bank died over two hundred years ago."
"There a secrecy act like the wizards got that says we can't talk about our leaders. But believe me there a lot more the just Gringotts. We were watched in this fight by at least three. You should have already know this type of stuff when you became a champion."
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
"You did ask a few already but what about?"
"Do you fear werewolves? I noticed you sent one after me."
"Werewolves? Not especially. I figured there kind of hard to deal with, unless you have the proper tools and I already have silver with me." Toby offered pulling out the dagger. He handed to the other champion cautiously and watch him very closely as he looked it over. Wizards were known for stealing goblins things.
"A very fine weapon, you should keep it close." He said as he handed it back.
"Could you tell me what you sent after me?" Toby asked, he would have looked it up, but searching based on abilities a creature possessed took a lot longer then by name.
"Well I'm guessing that your schools been a bit lax, but I sent a boggart. There a surprising number of witches and wizards that just can't handle there style of magic." The rival champion looked over as Jareth was walking over to the spot there were sitting. Toby stood immediately looking crestfallen as his defeat finally started to sink in.
"Well whether you believe my intention or not, I do look forward to the next round of our match." He offered his hand to shake. "By the way, I didn't catch your name."
"I'm Remus Lupin." He said as he shook the young boys hand. He watched the boys eyes light up.
"Your Harry Potters Werewolf friend! I've never met a real werewolf before no wonder you made such short work of my choice!" He said positively beaming. Remus was a little shocked about such a warm welcome upon hearing his 'furry little problem'.
"Its time to go Toby, we have things to discuss and prepare for. Good night Mr. Lupin." Jareth said with little sarcasm as he put a hand on Toby shoulder and steered him away from the arena. Lupin turned the other way and started to look for Gringotts.
_...-~-…_
"Your not playing me false are you Grintoll? The boy claims this is a dispute between goblins." Lupin said sitting in an arm chair at the Gringotts bank. The walls normal never seen by customers had heavy blankets hiding away the treasure that sat on the walls. The desk 'Grintoll' sat at was strangely completely without adorations.
"Lupin, you should be more prepared of deception by You-Know-Who's followers. If he had his way they would take over the bank and open our vaults to help bankroll his followers." Gringotts said reclining in his goblin size chair.
"Quiet understandable and it was my first instinct, but I didn't believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was recruiting such young boys. Or are you using me as overkill in your little competition?" Lupin didn't make any visible notice of the sneakascope buried deep in his robes that kept trying to start up when Grintoll was talking.
"I'm giving you the chance to help change the tide in this war Mr. Lupin. What else this may effect I do not believe is your concern. I thank you for your help this time, but I'd like to conclude this meeting. I'll contact you in preparation for our next challenge." Remus was surprised that all of that was true as his lie detector didn't go off even with the oil words 'Grintoll' spouted.
After Lupin said his farewells and left Gringotts made a beckoning motion and three goblins appeared from behind the curtains. All three came forward and dropped to a knee in subversion immediately.
"I want you to take shifts watching our champion. He has already signed a contract, but I don't want him contacting this Toby outside of the competition. If he does, bring him back here immediately." The three looked up with evil grins that would make an imp proud.
_...-~-…_
Toby's escapades thanks to the goblin magic hadn't taken nearly as long as he thought. The great hall was still filled with people and the deserts hadn't been sent up yet. Nobody mentioned his absence, he wasn't like Harry Potter who many where talking about his no show.
The professor's table had Snape in the headmasters spot, and the old witch that was supposed to take Sarah's spot was replaced with an older ill tempered red head. Toby asked a few housemates and found that Alectro Carrow was the new Muggle Studies Professor as well as new Deputy Headmistress. Her brother Amycus Carrow farther down the table was the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.
Toby started to make plans for this school year as he listened in on whatever gossip he could. Most of it was pointless drivel as a lot of conjecture on how long before Harry Potter walked in late again, or if they thought the Dark Lord was out looking for him, depending on if there parents were Death Eaters or not.
Toby's plans where much different, he had to get a chance to talk to Snape at some point and see what they could orchestrate to help one another. Snape no longer had any allies around, and Toby already decided that he wasn't keen on Voldemort being supreme ruler of the Wizarding world. Though backing Harry Potter wasn't really something he wanted to put a lot of faith on. The stories he heard led Toby to believe that it was mostly luck, and talented friends that he knew how to use to the greatest extent. When he came against Voldemort, unless he had an army backing him, Toby was going to bet he would lose.
The opening dinner ended without much aplomb, Snape gave a speech and reminders on the dangers of the Dark Forest and late night strolls, as well as introduction of new teachers. The Prefect did there duty moving all the students to there dormitories and finally to rest for the night. Toby despite the extra sleep he got on the train felt drained after his near miss with a boggart and passed out quickly.
_...-~-…_
The first free day Toby was already out wandering the halls, he had just picked up a new cloak from the Smithies in the labyrinth as his old one had become to tattered after his over use. Toby found himself in front of the Room of Requirement. Finding out how to get in had been a bit of adventure. He dropped hints about it to other housemates but no one took the bait. He had to actually go see the House Elves in the kitchen and tricked an eccentric one named Dobby to explain how to get in.
'I want all the Goblin made items you posses on display and easily accessible in a comfortable room when I enter." He thought as he walked back and forth the three times needed to open the door. As Dobby had told him the third pass revealed a door and he entered.
Toby was in shock as he stepped inside. This room went all out for him. Appearing as a simpler form of the smithies shop from the labyrinth. The fires were already stoked and anvil sat waiting. As Toby searched around in the familiar heat he couldn't find any material to forge with. No bar or ingot laid about to his disappointment, but he did find a manikin that had a pair of goblin silver boots, and a tiara.
Toby was a little leery about wearing a tiara, but it was something he was going to half to deal with as he put it on and thanked the room for putting no mirrors in here. Searching out a workbench with a stool he pulled his book of many book from his pack and started in on his homework and study of future lesson plans.
_...-~-…_
Professor Snape walked up the long winding steps that lead to the Headmaster room. Upon entering he pulled his wand out and with a small wave the room started to tidy itself up as he had left many of his projects sitting out when he went to see about the Carrows methods. It was something he couldn't really stop, not in keep face for his position but he would help prevent more students from being sent to them if he could.
It had been a trying time for Severus as with his promised to help Dumbledore end his life left him bereft of any aid from the Order members not that he would admit to needing them, but also now he still tried to slow down the fellow Death Eaters plan while trying to make this small diversion legitimate concerns.
Snape knew he was getting warn out and soon would have to take a break or he would slip up when he realized he missed his visitor. Swiping his wand as he took his seat the hidden student fell over petrified.
Snape was fairly surprised to see Toby half concealed under a cloak of invisibility. Toby had been fairly impressive the previous year, and hadn't been doing anything to get into trouble. Severus figured this was about to change. He muttered the counter curse and then motioned with his wand to the chair in front of him.
"Well I would normally find this kind of offense punishable by expelling, but as the ministry has decreed all young wizards must attend school I could go for detentions. I hear the Dark Arts students are starting to get a hang of the Cruciatus Curse." He said as he pulled the form out of his desk, waving his wand over it the ink started to pen in.
"You might want to wait a moment Headmaster, this is meeting is a little bigger then something as simple as school." Hearing this Snape did stop halfway through writing Williams. Snape finally looked up to see Toby sitting there with his school bags with a rich dark forest green pair of gloves on, that had silver thread embroidering some kind of image on the back of his hand. Snape ignored this giving Toby his full attention.
"Breaking into this office is a difficult feat, and as you're barely halfway through your first semester of your second year I believe you maybe right." Snape looked over the office to see if there was anything else he may have missed. The headmasters paintings were all paying rapt attention after hearing Toby.
"Very good. Last year I had been in some correspondence with Dumbledore's plans. I know what really happened that night, and see that you are cut off from any allies. I'm offering my help in exchange for yours."
"What help could you offer me Mr. Williams? There are several Death Eater stationed through the school waiting to hear my word." Snape was leaning forward on his desk keeping an aura of calm indifference as he mentally began to worry about what this boy may know. Had Dumbledore betrayed his trust after all?
"This is not a game of cat in mouse!" Toby nearly shouted letting some of his anger betray him. Finding a way into here without setting off any of the alarms had been tiring, especially with keeping up with the power play and school work. "I am in a position to possibly bring the strength of three full Goblin Hosts against the Dark Lord, but I need someone like you to help me figure out how to get this done."
"It would be unwise to speak of such things to me boy."
"Don't tell me you have Faith that this Harry Potter will be capable of defeating him. I want something more reassuring, and if you could help train me Half-Blood Prince then I know we can do what the chosen one could not." Toby was standing now infront of the desk trying to get his point across. The Diadem was sitting in his bag, and this was another one of those times that he wished he could have worn in openly. The Carrow twin girls thought that it had been lost again.
"What did Dumbledore tell you?" Snape asked after what felt like an eternity to Toby. Toby sat his bag on the ground next to him and returned to his seat.
"He told me very little, but I was able to have a couple of goes at his Pensieve. Afterwards he answered a few of my questions and kindly asked me to butt out. I didn't have the resources last year so agreed. Now I'm better prepared." Snape looked like he might have swallowed something foul when he realized that this boy might know his agreement with Dumbledore.
"How will you be able to mobilize a host of goblins? I understood they were remaining neutral."
"I could explain to you, but we will have to be in agreement to trust each other. I keep your secret, you keep mine. This will have to be the way cause I'll probably also need you to teach me oclumous ma bober." Toby stumbled over the enunciation of the mind readying skill and bringing his age back into the equation.
"Occlumency is what I believe you are referring to."
"Never heard it said before." A small laugh trying to lighten his mistake.
"Unless you are extraordinarily talented, I doubt you will be capable of that kind of magic."
"I would still like to try. After learning Defensive arts, and potion making from just your notes I have the utmost confidence in your skills."
"What do you mean by my notes?"
"I found this in the Room of Requirement. I noticed the handwriting matched the notes you wrote on our papers last year." He pulled what looked like a new copy of Advanced Potion making out of bag and set it down. Severus picked it up and started to thumb through it at all his old work.
"Potter hid it in the Room of Requirement…" he said almost to himself before setting it back down.
"Please if you like keep it. I have already made a copy of your wonderful additions for myself." Toby said looking pleased.
Snape stood up. When Toby began to speak to motioned for silence and walked over to the portrait of Dumbledore and began to talk quietly with him. Toby always listening could only hear a buzzing white noise from them. Deciding to wait for his private conversation to be over, didn't use the counter curse. The conversation was nearly five minutes long before he turned back to Toby.
"We will get into more details during our lessons. Saturday nights at 8 pm." Snape said. He didn't let his emotions show one way or the other. He knew if Toby was hiding anything he would find it when they started Occlumency that night. Toby stood up picking his bag up and pulling on his cloak. He had a big grin on his face before it was hidden under the cloak.
"Thank you very much, sir." He bowed while invisible and went to the door. Just before he closed it he called back. "Oh, by the way; despite the markings that sword isn't real. Someone must have duped Dumbledore." Then he was down the stairs.
_...-~-…_
Toby was laying on the floor before Jareth throne holding his head. His gloves and boots were off to the side and his bag had fallen open letting half its content partially fall out. The normal rabble and good cheer had been ordered away as Toby had a headache.
"I swear I didn't know my brain could hurt so bad." Jareth looked amused as he gazed upon his heir. "I mean with his help I'm excelling so much faster then other student my age. The man is a genius, and with the diadem I'm picking it up as if it second nature. Even the wand work isn't as hard as it was before." Toby had expressed his view that items that acted like magic was his preference to actually casting. Toby had let his hair grow out and was now wearing the diadem on the back side of his head underneath the nearly shoulder length hair. If someone actually ran there hands through his blonde untidy hair they would find it, but thankfully it blended rather well with his pale hair color. Little bit of magic also helped.
"I'm all glad for you, but you still have to win the next two matches. What have you learned about this Remus?" Jareth asked as he lazily tossed four different sphere around himself, letting them roll along his arms and hand.
"Well he was Order of the Phoenix, which means that hes against Voldemort like us. Remember Ol'Voldy will probably wipe out goblins as soon as they openly refuse him so he is a bad guy." Toby pulled the pensieve near him and started siphoning away important thoughts for later. "He's a werewolf, and was a teacher of Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts just a few years ago. Thankfully I still have the old defense book and keeping it up as a separate study. I just finally cover those stupid boggarts."
"My little Toby, even if this is a good man, Gringotts has him fooled. We have to win the next two confrontations."
"Do you have the next one planned?"
"That I do, I'm merely waiting for his next challenge."
"Its been months since the last one! I'm going back. I have homework to do." He said as he gathered up his things and made to set out.
"You didn't always used to leave. You can do your homework here."
"Thanks, but I'll let the goblins get back to the party. I'll find somewhere quiet, or maybe find a Ravenclaw to study with." He said with a laugh. The other houses had grown somehow more defensive against Slytherin students. None would purposely speak with many of them if they could help it.
He made a dash for the Room of Requirement once inside the castle proper once more. He didn't bring his supplies for smithing with him. With the larger workload he took on his work on his armor had slowed to a crawl. The boots were of great quality but he had to make a deal with the rightful owner to take true possession of them. You see there were already top of the line crafting, he just had to make a few additional enchantments and etches to make them proper for a king. His hauberk was coming along slower then anything he had worked on before. Not only was it bigger, the chain portions of the shirt more intricate, but he was already working on fourth year material and just didn't have the time now.
The room was more like his personal place to relax and get things done. After he learned about the dual-mind enchantment on the Diadem he took to keeping many long mirrors in the room. Toby was seated at a desk, his book in front as he started to go over the work Slughorn assigned (he had already mastered the work, but it had felt like ages ago). He looked up to the mirror image of him. His image unlike him, was twirling a fake galleon they had found when rummaging through the 'random catalogue' of things they room could produce. Rumors said that Dumbledore's Army had used something like this two year ago, but so far the notes that had been passed by it he felt weren't very important.
"Our armor is more important then this wand work. Anything we learn, that wolf is probably already going to know it. He doesn't have access to our kind of armor, this is our advantage." Mirror said trying to once again convey his sound reasoning.
"He beat us last time cause we weren't prepared for a simple boggarts. I won't be defeated again by the same likes. We already have a few pieces, with Severus help we now also have a small collection of potions that can help."
"Getting very body, body with the headmaster. Remember what could happen if 'He' decides Snape is no long worth anything?"
"We all have choices to make. Snape will pull through. Have you come up with anything for Potter?"
"Snape still believe what Dumbledore said. Potter will have to face him at the right time, and only they will be able to finish each other off."
"I'm sure Potter is looking for those Horcruxes right now. We just have to kill him when he finishes the task and then the Dark Lord will be vulnerable."
"Why don't you take a rest, I'll do the school work for now." The mirror said. Toby shook his head and looked down at his ten inch essay on how to gather ingredients for wands from various animals. It was about an inch long before he seemed to have just started doodling plans for his helm.
"I think your right. I'm out of it." He put the quill down and covered his eyes with his palms. Though nothing physical seemed to happen, Toby sat up straighter and didn't look as tired. The mirror image laid its head down on the table and started to snooze.
"Killing Harry Potter is defiantly part of the plan." The portion of soul from the diadem fixed there hair to hide the diadem better before getting up and leaving Toby to sleep on his side of the mirror.