Chapter 2
Several months later
St Albions School
The headmaster hated having to make this call. He liked Jareth, but that didn't mean he ever forgot just how powerful he and his goblin nation were. St Albion's was the most prestigious school around, currently housing students of 83 different species, the only common link being the sheer amount of power they possessed, either politically or magically. Even so there were few students powerful enough to cause this school board a single night's sleep. This was a school that had been known to turn away both King's and Emperors that failed the entrance exam.
Jareth had not been required to take the exam. If Jareth had gone to a different school they could have been ruined, the rich and powerful, those who truly ran things would be easily swayed by a new fad and they liked their offspring to be making the right connections. Too many would likely have followed the Goblin King.
"What's he done?" questioned Fenrook tiredly, upon sight of the headmaster in the mirror. He knew exactly how these things went, generally had at least one call per term.
Fenrook canceled an extremely important meeting between the Gringott goblins and the American Ministry of Magic, and arrived at the school that same evening ready for yet another parent-teacher discussion about Jareth's behaviour. He reminded himself that school life was doing Jareth good, regardless that Fenrook needed to make this trip far too often and use almost all of his diplomacy skills just to stop the boy getting expelled. He had no doubt whatsoever that without the existence of Gringott's, and the goblins, Jareth would have been expelled in his first week. Luckily, the school board understood exactly what it would mean to lose their Gringott's accounts and though Jareth never escaped punishment, it always fell short of actual expulsion.
Fenrook fully believed that Jareth's own charm had come into play at some point, since after the first term none of the school board seemed to bear a grudge that they were essentially being blackmailed into keeping the boy. Fenrook, in fact, had fast become one of the very few people to insist on a proper punishment when the latest of Jareth's schemes went awry, one of the very few not to fall for Jareth's protestations of innocence or contrition. And one of even fewer able to hide his smile when hearing about the boy's latest exploits.
Fenrook soon succeeded in calming the current escalating situation down, by using a mixture of threats, bribes and promises. And putting an immediate stop to Jareth's growing belligerence at being blamed for everything as-per-usual. Fenrook eventually even managed to force a sulky apology from the boy. And though Jareth didn't look at all sorry for nearly destroying the library with an endless self-replicating spell, it was good enough for the Headmaster at least, if not the Librarian. Jareth escaped suspension this time, for which Fenrook sighed in relief.
Fenrook did manage a late dinner before his departure though, was allowed to dine privately with Jareth though somehow the boy's cronies also managed to snag an invite. The Three Musketeers they were known as throughout the school. They were best of friends and just important enough to get away with some very wild stunts. Fenrook knew very well that Jareth was usually the instigator of all the trouble though. As the Goblin King he was one of the only children allowed to have Bodyguards while boarding at the school, though almost two thirds of the school was related to royalty or power in some way and attempted to demand them. Jareth's poor guards seemed to spend more time searching for the kid, covering for him or rescuing him his latest disastrous idea, than they had ever signed up for. Jareth would be astonished to know he himself was top of his Bodyguards list of 'Biggest Threat to the Throne'. The second Musketeer was Lord Oberon, the 12 year old Prince of the Seelie Court and finally there was 11 year old tomboy Titania. A girl not at all important like her two friends and pretty much everyone at the school, but her mother was a teacher there, which had given Titania a chance to sit and pass the famous entrance exam.
"Do you really eat people?" Oberon asked spreading butter on his bread.
Fenrook blinked in surprise at the question.
"Pardon me?" he said.
"Jareth says that you eat people." Titania chimed in morbidly.
Fenrook glanced across the table at Jareth and raised an eyebrow. Jareth attempted to look innocent.
"Not on a Friday," he answered with a smile. They looked at him doubtfully. He looked big enough to eat people, larger than a human male and very sturdily build. Very clearly built like a warrior.
"Did Jareth really have to eat someone to prove he was capable of being the King?" continued Oberon in fascination.
Fenrook stared at Jareth who was pretending not to be listening to the conversation. "Jareth hasn't, and isn't, going to be eating anybody." He answered firmly.
"I knew you were lying" Oberon said triumphantly. "You even fainted when we dissected that frog in class."
"I did not" Jareth denied, forgetting that he was pretending not to listen. "I was ill and it was hot in there. Probably food poisoning," he continued, prodding a limp piece of lettuce.
Fenrook raised an eyebrow, "What else has Jareth been telling you?" he said suspiciously.
"Has he really got the blackest, evilest soul ever?" Titania asked suspiciously.
Jareth coughed "Anyone want some more potatoes?" he offered.
"If Jareth's soul is blackened it's probably because he forgot to wash," Fenrook answered with a smile, utterly ignoring Jareth's attempted diversion.
Jareth attempted to ignore the twin glares being levelled at him by his friends. "You said that the goblins crowned you King because you had the blackest soul in the world and that you had to eat babies. You said you had to torture someone as a rite of passage before you could be crowned" Oberon accused.
Fenrook laughed and raised an eyebrow at Jareth. "Crowned?" he asked
Jareth blushed at being caught out, "But I totally could if I had to," Jareth assured them all.
"No torturing or eating people until you are 21." Fenrook commanded. Jareth scowled.
"So does this mean you don't really have to undergo trials of untold horror?" Titania asked disappointedly.
"See, I told you it was suspiciously like the plot of that novel he was reading." Oberon added, finally vindicated.
"He doesn't have any trials at all?" Titania questioned, not to be diverted.
"No." Fenrook answered.
"Is there at least a crown of thorns?" she continued.
"A crown of thorns?" Fenrook repeated, amused. "No."
"But if there were trials, I'd totally pass them." Jareth announced assuredly.
Fenrook raised an eyebrow, unwilling to argue the point. "Jareth's the Goblin King, regardless of the outcome of any trials or the state of his soul." he said.
"You and I need to have a little chat about telling the truth." He added sternly to Jareth who scowled in return. It wasn't Jareth's fault that his life was too boring to really involve fights to the death and crowns made of thorns.
"But there should be trials," he moaned, poking at his food "I should have to fight to the death against any challengers."
Fenrook smiled, "Well maybe that would encourage you to put a bit more effort into your fighting skills."
Oberon and Titania sniggered and Jareth scowled again. "I could totally fight to the death if I wanted to." Jareth said belligerently.
"No fighting." ordered Fenrook, well acquainted with how Jareth's mind worked. "To the death or otherwise." he added sternly to a clearly unrepentant Jareth.
Jareth sighed, sudden dreams of being a swordsman extraordinaire amongst his schoolmates, slowly vanishing. They finished the meal in silence and Jareth walked Fenrook to the school entrance to say goodbye.
"Be good." Fenrook said sternly, grabbing Jareth for a hug.
"I'm always good." Jareth answered virtuously, leaning into the hug.
"And no fighting." Fenrook added, ignoring that absurd statement.
"Fine" Jareth muttered. He'd made a career out of knowing exactly how far he could push Fenrook and he understood the warning. Taking up fighting against his schoolmates would seem to be a bad idea. "But I could totally win." He announced.
Fenrook smiled, "No fighting." He repeated sternly. Jareth dropped his head on Fenrook's shoulder in response. It could get lonely at the school. He was a popular boy, but none of his friends knew what it meant to be a goblin. None of them felt like a goblin felt and gave him that feeling of love and safety. None of them understood things that were intrinsic to the goblin nation.
The large goblin enfolded Jareth in his cloak and held him tighter, regardless of any watching students. He missed Jareth in the term-time, regardless of the headaches he created during his vacations. Jareth had more energy than anyone he knew, had a tendency to go fast and furious, and then drop without warning. There was a saying, that it took a whole village to raise a child. In Jareth's case it was more like an entire nation, plus a few extras like, say, the land itself.
"It's only 3 weeks till the summer holidays." Fenrook assured, a little worried at Jareth's clinginess.
"I miss you." Jareth whispered, "It's not the same here. I'm alone."
Fenrook sighed, he understood. Jareth was a goblin, the goblin King; it wasn't good for him to be away from his people. It was necessary though, Jareth needed outside ties to the next generation of the world's leaders. He didn't know it now, but if he had those links, he would be just that little bit safer in the future. People were always just that little bit less eager to mount war against an old school friend than a stranger. And Jareth was learning here, making allies, among people who didn't spoil him nearly as much as his own kind.
Ok, just realised that not only does nothing happen in this chapter, but the plot moves along not at all. Not too worry, i'll try and make something come together by the end of this weekend:)
More Harry Potter crossover will occur soon and if anyone hates the 2 friends let me know, i'm not especially attached to them. I used midsummer nights dream characters only because he needed some friends and i thought if i made them up entirely they could be in danger of Mary-Suing themselves. Also having 3 friends may be copying Harry a little bit, but i need the banter and if i write more than 3 characters i find myself getting overwhelmed with new characters that aren't really relevant to the plot.