Chapter 2
Tobias was a different sort of boy. He had a deep yearning for discovering the truth that lies behind things. He simply cannot stand not knowing how something works or why it works. He spent a great deal of his youth taking things apart that should never have been taken apart. His parents spent most of their time throwing their hands up in exasperation at their only son. He had a knack for magic in a way that neither of them did. His abilities in transfiguration were pitiable, his herbology embarrassing at best. However, in the fields of uncovering mysteries he had a unique gift. His grasp of arithmancy, divination, and the dark arts was almost scary. What made him so unique was that he could care less. The dark arts were nothing more than a means to an end. He had no desire for cruelty or power. He simply desired to break things down into their simplest form to see what was at the core of the matter. The sorting hat spent a great deal of time wondering what to do with him during his first year. In the end, it placed him in Slytherin, in hopes that he would expand on his understanding of power, to help ensure that he would never misuse his 'gifts'. It worked quite well. He had no problem fitting in with his classmates, but he spent most of his time away from them and their petty dealings with the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. He envied the Ravenclaws for their noble pursuit of knowledge, but if they knew where his true strengths lay, they would reject him. He was where he had to be.
He was excited to be in his third year. His mother had told him that Hogsmeade would provide a happy distraction from the school year. Then there was the possibility that 'he' would be there. They had an odd sort of friendship. A few years back, before he had even received an invitation to Hogwarts, Tobias had begun teaching himself spells from the books his parents kept in their personal library. One time he had attempted to apparate himself and somehow wound up directly in front of a mildly surprised Gevin Rookwood. Gevin immediately realized the situation was going to quickly go poorly for him and taking pity grabbed his wand. When the ministry officials showed up to determine the illegal apparating, Gevin explained that he had apparated using Tobias's wand to show him how it was done. The whole thing boiled down to a stern lecture and since nothing could be proved, no one was punished. Ever since that day, Tobias had felt a sense of debt to the older boy. He also knew that Gevin was the type to exploit that relationship, but it never really bothered Tobias too much.
He had already known from reading the tea leaves in Professor Trelawney's class that he would meet up with an old friend. He had no other friends, so he surmised what was to come. Tobias never told Trelawney what he really saw in her class. He was never one to give someone satisfaction who he felt had not earned it. Trelawney had definitely not earned it. That thought made him smile, as it often had before.
Snape had already received and approved his application to go to Hogsmeade and so he was fully prepared to enjoy the trip. His father had even given him a couple galleons to spend while he was there. He had full intentions of loading up on sweets from Honeydukes. He may excel at the dark arts, but he was only thirteen after all. A little sweet-tooth never hurt anyone he surmised. Plus, the thought of topping off the day with a warm butterbeer from The Three Broomsticks, seemed to have a nice sound to it. He hurried down to where the other students were already gathering for the trip. He had a sense of excitement about it all and was excited to get going. As he came bouncing out of the Slytherin common room he nearly bumped into one of the Weasley clan. He thought it was probably Fred, but he still had a difficult time telling the twins apart. Not that he put much thought into it. It wasn't that he disliked them for any particular reason; he just never saw them as being important to his life at school.
Before Tobias knew it, they were off to Hogsmeade. After a seeming eternity, they had finally arrived, only to be let loose on the shopkeepers who hated the crowds, but loved the profit on Hogwarts weekends. Tobias, who had of course memorized a map of the area, headed immediately towards his destination. As he started to get closer his smile got larger. He could almost taste the confectionary delights that awaited him.
Tobias suddenly felt a sense of awful dread. An unseasonable chill ran down his spine. He felt a cold touch brush against him and he immediately recoiled. He quickly turned around to see what it was, but only briefly caught a glimpse of a dark cloaked figure disappearing into the crowd. He was almost positive it was a woman, but he could not quite be sure. He wanted to run somewhere and tell someone, but he had no idea of what he would have said. He was sure his concerns would be dismissed. He considered bringing it up with Professor Snape as soon as he returned. For the moment, he did not feel in any immediate danger, so he ducked into the candy shop.
Almost as if on queue, standing inconspicuously in the corner of the store, was Gevin. Apparently, he had already guessed Tobias would come here. He seemed a bit more gaunt than he last remembered, but he was still a formidable looking wizard.
Without any thought whatsoever, Tobias walked up to him and immediately blurted out, "I think I just bumped into something rather odd a second ago."
"Shhh. Listen Tobias. There is something serious happening and I really need your help."
"Hmmm… how many times have we started a conversation like this?" joked Tobias.
"Too many my small friend, but this time is a bit more hairy. I need you to put your inquisitive mind to work on a project. Here take this."
Tobias took the rolled up parchment and began to open it.
"No. Not here," interjected Gevin. "I need you to keep this VERY low key. I need to know what exactly it is and much more importantly how to destroy the thing without taking myself along with it."
Tobias finally noticed that Gevin looked extremely unnerved. Something very uncharacteristic for him. It started to make him nervous as well.
"What…"
"Not now, please believe me when I tell you that I have to go back underground as soon as possible. Don't send this via owl to me. It's far too dangerous. If you find anything, then tell the Bloody Baron. I have a mutual acquaintance that haunts the old shoemaker's shop in Knockturn Alley. The Baron owes ol' Gifflewad a favor and Giffle is currently in my debt. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Gevin, but pleeease tell me what is going on."
"I will, I promise, as soon as I figure it out myself. I'm being watched and I don't even know by whom. Hey, do you know what T-C-O-E stands for? It's an acronym of some kind?"
"I… I'm sorry I don't."
"Okay. That's alright." Gevin looked at the trembling boy. "I'm really sorry Tobias. I don't want you to be involved with this, but I don't know anyone else as smart as you and I really need this."
Tobias looked carefully at Gevin and saw that his face was serious and held no sense of guile. That made him even more concerned. Gevin was not joking around at all. This is as real and immediate as he had ever known him to be.
"I promise, I'll do this for you," he earnestly replied.
"Thank you. I have to go now. Keep your eyes open."
As quick as Mrs. Norris, Gevin exited Honeydukes and shifted himself into the crowd. Tobias simply walked out of the store with the parchment tucked under his cloak. The sweets all but forgotten, he made his way back to the edge of Hogsmeade. He needed to get back to the school and quickly.
It seemed to take forever to get back, but he didn't even take time to stop by his dormitory. He ran straight to the library, found a quiet table and laid the parchment down. He quickly unrolled it and stared at the drawings and notes Gevin had done. A small, black chest with a constant stream of off-colored smoke. A divining chest of some sort. Right up my ally, he mused.
The notes were hastily written and most of it was not helpful at all. Save for a couple of details that could not be ignored. It had a very specific warding rune on its lid. He wondered if it was to keep someone out or to keep something inside. The second was the blood ritual used to have your spell bridge from the chest to what was being divinated. Both of these things would be a unique marker for the artifact. After re-reading everything he decided he probably had enough to begin researching. He wondered if the origin of the chest was meaningful. There just was not a lot of magical goings on in Albania, that he knew of anyway. He looked across the book aisle and stared longingly at the forbidden section of the library.
"I seriously need to find a way in there someday", he thought. "Well, here's to hoping that what we need is in the normal selection of books."
He slowly let the air out of his lungs trying to determine his first move.
"I think I'll start with books on magical medieval history," he quietly intoned. "If I can find out who the possible inventors of this thing might be, I can probably locate a more specific text on their creations. Hmmmm."
He stood up and purposefully began wandering around. He found numerous books that might be worth looking into, but he settled on the two titles: The Dark Wizards of the Dark Ages and Great Wizard Inventors (pre-Renaissance). He hoped there might be at least some clues lurking between the dusty covers. As he headed back to his table he noticed a fifth year Gryffindor student sitting at the table. Her bushy, brown hair was a dead giveaway to who she was. She was reading a book, but not very carefully. It appeared she was trying to look at Gevin's notes without looking like she was looking at Gevin's notes. A little alarm went off in his head and he lengthened his stride.
"Hermione Granger I take it?"
She looked up startled at Tobias. She quickly regained her composure.
"I am, and you would be?" There was a definite note of contempt in her voice.
Not that he blamed her. There was no love lost between her and most of the students of his house.
"Tobias Beldower."
"Wait a minute, that name rings a bell. I think I've graded some of your papers in Arithmancy for Professor Vector. You're a third year, aren't you?"
"I am."
"You're quite good actually, which … sort of comes … as a surprise to me. Being in the ummm" she stammered.
"House that I am in? Don't worry, I'm not offended. I know full well the reputation of my house precedes me."
Hermione dropped the pretense and pointedly asked Tobias, "so, what exactly is this anyway?"
He had already prepared an answer to this question before he reached the table.
"It's a special research project I am doing for Professor Snape. He has asked me to look into this for something special he is working on. I don't really know much more than that."
"I see," she replied, "well, it seems awfully interesting, and to be honest, quite dangerous."
"I'm not really sure if it even exists anymore, but the professor seems to think it's important."
Hermione thought about it for a moment and said, "The rune appears to be an old warding rune. I'm fairly sure it has not been used for quite a few hundred years."
"That was my thought as well. I'm guessing sometime during the early middle ages," Tobias calmly responded.
"If I remember my lessons, I seem to remember an old wizard named Em… something. Emeric maybe? I think he was a big believer in warding runes. You should read up on him."
Tobias was genuinely impressed by her quick analysis. He knew the stories all too well about the infamous Harry Potter, and his sidekicks Ron and Hermione. He figured that the rantings of one Draco Malfoy were probably not the most accurate place to get the facts. Still, he could not help but feel some resentment towards her. She was often a source of bitter strife for the Slytherins and anything that made Draco miserable, made the whole lot of them miserable.
He found himself having a bit of a hostile stare at the girl. After a moment, she looked back at him.
"I can't say that I'm a big fan of yours either, but I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at me like I was a venomous snake."
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Maybe I've been judging you a little rashly. Perhaps it would be appropriate to get to know you and Harry better, before I decide to hate you for the rest of my natural life. Just don't let anyone know I said that."
His last sentence was said with a note of joviality to it.
"So, how long have you and Harry been dating?"
"Excuse me?" she said with a bit of shock in her voice. "Harry and I are just friends. We're very close, but believe me, you can't believe all that nonsense that was written in the Daily Prophet last year."
"I never read the Daily Prophet," he politely replied. "I came to that conclusion on my own. I've seen how inseparable you two are and made a poor assumption. My apologies."
"It's alright. It was an honest mistake."
Tobias turned right back around and dug out a few more books that might have more information on a wizard named Emeric. After searching for a bit he discovered what he was looking for and it wasn't exactly a positive discovery. He sighed a bit louder than he had intended to.
"Did you find something?" Hermione piped up from behind her own stack of books.
"Yeah, I did. Here it is right here. Emeric the Evil. Apparently he lived up to his name. He had some very strange ideas and philosophies. He was also one of the first wizards to pioneer dark runes. They were outlawed by most civilized wizards shortly after his death, although it might have been unnecessary since his runes have yet to be able to be duplicated. Listen to this, the runes weren't just to protect a place or thing. They were made to severely punish those who tried to get through them. They were designed to kill, permanently maim, or completely shred the mind of the potential intruder, leaving them stark raving mad. This guy was a real nutcase. Other dark wizards often sought him out simply to have him place his warding runes on their most prized possessions. It also made the protected items almost virtually impossible to dismantle or destroy, lest the rune fulfill its dark design. It would take a seriously knowledgeable wizard to undo an Emeric dark rune."
"Fascinating," Hermione genuinely replied. "I wonder why this chest would have the rune on it."
"My guess is that whoever last owned the thing, wanted to make sure that no one else but them could ever use it."
"Good point. Now, all you need to do is find out who built the chest and you're home free. You've seriously narrowed down your search field too. All you have to do is study the dark wizards that were alive during the same time Emeric was and that's the list you go on. I'd be very interested in knowing what you find out. I wonder why Snape is even interested in this."
"I… err… didn't ask," he replied lamely.
"No, I suspect he wouldn't tell you even if you had. Well, I need to try and get some sleep. Goodnight Tobias of the Slytherins."
Tobias smiled in spite of himself. "Goodnight Hermione of Gryffindor. Oh and please remember; don't ever mention that you know me, anywhere near the vicinity of a Slytherin. It would make the next four years of my life a never-ending misery."
Hermione nodded in affirmation with an understanding smile. She waved at him as she walked out of the library, leaving Tobias alone with his thoughts.
"Oh Gevin my friend, what have you gotten us into," he moaned.
--- ---
Hermione came around the corner and nearly bumped into Ron. He looked highly irritated.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Oh, Draco is lording it up with this prefect thing. I am still completely boggled how that git ever got selected."
"I know it isn't easy Ron, but you have got to learn to not let him get under your skin," she answered earnestly.
"Yeah, a bit easier said than done. Well, anyway I'm beat. I haven't done any of my studying for tomorrow, so I'm going to curl up in the common room for awhile. I'll talk to you later."
"Goodnight Ron."
Hermione could still hear him muttering terrible things about Draco under his breath all the way down the hall. She stifled a small laugh and made her way through the common room up to her cozy bed.
She changed out of her robes and into some plaid pajamas. She laid down on her bed and let herself drift off to sleep. Right before she dozed off, she distinctly heard Tobias say to her.
"So, how long have you and Harry been dating?"
What a completely strange thing for him to say. She never thought of Harry that way and she knew that he did not feel that way in return. She took her pillow, placed it tightly over her face and let out a small scream. It left her with a strange giddy sensation. She forced herself to relax and after a bit was able to finally start to fall asleep. Just before passing out completely, she quietly laughed as she could almost hear herself answer Tobias's question.
"Oh, Harry and I? We've been dating for awhile now. Why do you ask?"
--- ---
Elwyna was just locking the front door of the shop. She pulled out her wand and cast four different locking charms on it. Satisfied they all took; she turned around and saw a man walking up the opposite side of the alleyway. As he came closer into view, she recognized him as Gevin. She carefully looked around and then hurried across the street to meet him before he went inside the inn for the night. He looked dreadfully tired. When she got close enough she quietly spoke his name.
"Gevin?"
He turned to her and stared for a moment.
"Ellie, please tell me you've locked that chest up somewhere good and tight."
"I have Gevin. I put it into my father's safe. No one except him and me can get in there."
"I got the information into the hands of my friend. He'll contact me as soon as he knows something."
She noticed that his eyes were constantly scanning the dark alley around them.
"Ellie, listen to me. Please take every precaution tonight. When you get home, cast every ward and protection spell you can think of, on every opening in or out."
"I... I will."
"Good. I have to be upfront with you. I think I am in a lot of trouble. Someone has been watching me and I have a bad feeling they're a lot better wizard than I am. It might have something to do with my Uncle, but I don't really know anything for sure. As soon as we destroy that chest, I need to get out of town. Out of England really. Maybe for good."
Elwyna felt her chest constrict tighter than a drum. She was worried for Gevin, but she was even more frightened of him leaving. She didn't have many friends around here. Without her father, she was vulnerable. She only felt safe, because she knew that in spite of their differences, Gevin would help her out in a jam.
"Ellie, if I do leave, that is, if I have to run. Will you go with me?" he said with deep sincerity.
"I'll need to think about it," she quickly replied.
He was asking her to risk being vulnerable with him. To answer that question with a yes makes her weak and he might take advantage of her weakness. If she says no, then he's out of her life.
"Ellie?"
"Yes, I'll go."
"You will?"
"Yes, I don't know why I said that a moment ago. Reflex answer I suppose. I don't need to think about it. I'll go with you."
She could not stop herself from saying it. There it was laid out for both of them to see. She let her defenses drop. Now he'll come in for the kill, she thought. He'll ask her for money or possibly some of the dark magic from the shop. Then he'll have what he wants and he'll leave her. Her breathing was coming entirely too rapidly. The whole alley was swirling around her. She felt sick.
He reached both arms out to her and pulled her close. He held her for a long time. She felt a sob rise up from inside her. It came out violently and she almost fell to the ground, but he held her up. This was the first time in her life, anyone had ever held her. At least since her mother died when she was still very young. She was never more frightened and never more whole than this moment.
"Ellie," he whispered in her ear, "thank you. I don't think I can make it through this without you. I know we've only known each other for a few months, but you are all I have in this world right now and I'm scared to death to let you go."
She had no idea of how to reply. Her whole body was in shock and all she could think of right now was how much she hated her father, and hated her mother for dying, and hated the dark arts store, and hated Knockturn Alley, and hated her life… but most important, that she did not hate him. He was the only thing in this world she did not hate. She was not sure what that meant, but knew it must be important somehow. She meant what she said. She would follow him anywhere for as long as she possibly could. She would have given him anything he wanted. All her money, all the artifacts in the store, and even all of her if he asked.
She heard a strange, calming sound in her ears. It was a heartbeat. After a moment she realized it was her own. She was surprised at first. She thought back and could never remember a time she had heard or felt her own heart beat. She knew it always had been there, but never actually recognized it until now. It was a surreal sensation and made her feel something completely strange and new, alive.
He slowly let her go. He looked at her right in the eyes.
"Meet me here tomorrow morning, before you open the store. I have some things I need to tell you, but we've been out in the open for too long."
"Yes, of course. I'll be right here just after sun up. Do you need me to do anything?"
"Just to be here. We need to make a plan. For some reason I feel that things are starting to unravel. Our time and resources are going to be very limited. We'll need to make every move count."
He pulled her head up and placed a small kiss on her forehead. Afterward, he turned and quietly entered the inn. She turned around, made sure everything was clear. Then apparated home. She remembered his instructions and followed them to the letter. Every door and window was charmed and re-charmed with everything she could think of and she ran up to her room.
She pulled out a pale brown duffle bag and started filling it with everything she would need if she had to pull out fast. She just completely opened herself up to Gevin and she was going to make absolutely sure that boy did not leave her behind. She laughed for a second, thinking he was twenty years old. Not exactly a boy, but it fit better than any other adjective she tried to put in there. Holding on to that thought made her feel calm inside for some reason. Men are evil pigs, but boys… boys still have some hope of growing up to be decent. She started to think of ways to help ensure that path was the one he was going to take. Those thoughts actually made her smile.
--- ---
Gevin went past the common room and went straight to his small room on the top floor of the inn. He entered the room, turned around and pulled out his wand. He immediately began casting the runes of alarm and protection every few feet. He felt a strange cold sensation in the back of his neck.
"LUMOS!" he cried.
The tip of his wand flared up with a bright light. He whipped around and searched every nook and corner. He saw nothing. The panic slowly began to subside and he picked up where he left off. He started over with each spell and did not stop until he had completely wizard proofed his room.
After a moment of collecting himself he sat down on the end of his bed and began to think. He worked through all the possible scenarios to make sure he was ready for whatever might come. The only thing he made sure of was that every scenario ended up with Elwyna coming with him in the end. After he was tired of thinking he crawled into bed and fell asleep shortly after.
The spells all in place quietly watched the room from every angle, to ensure that no wizard would dare come inside. The shuttered window slowly opened. A strange woman entered the room in almost complete silence. She clearly saw the runes carefully placed everywhere she looked. She quietly cackled to herself.
"Too bad I'm not a wizard, young Gevin."
He was lying perfectly still. His steady breathing assured her he was asleep. She smiled a wicked smile showing razor sharp teeth from top to bottom. She quickly unfolded her talons from underneath her robe. She could smell his life moving through him. Tonight she would feed on human flesh. She sprang towards him with unnatural speed and began to tear him apart.
--- ---
Hagrid was calmly rocking back and forth on the new rocking chair he had recently traded for, in Diagon Alley. An old shopkeeper did not need it anymore and Hagrid no longer needed the powerful chains he used to keep Buckbeak tied up with. It was a fair trade he thought and after McGonagall had kindly transfigured it to just the right size, he wouldn't trade it for the world.
It was a nice night to be sitting outside with Fang and enjoying a large cup of tea. He rocked back and forth while thinking of what he might like to do next year with his class. He felt he needed to find a new creature to introduce to the students. Something Harry, Ron and Hermione would not roll their eyes at so much.
Fang quickly lifted his head up and starting breathing heavily.
"What is it Fang," he said in his clear baritone voice. "You hear something."
Fang immediately turned around and went into Hagrid's hut. Hagrid looked irritated, but it was nothing new. He sat there for a moment listening and heard a strange sound coming from the forest. He got up and grabbed his crossbow.
"Grawp? Is that you," he said loudly.
There was no answer. He quickly moved into the forest to investigate. He kept pressing towards the sound he heard a few moments ago. Then suddenly he heard a low moan, followed by an unnatural gurgling sound. He pressed forward, until he came upon the source.
"What the? This ain't right!"
At his feet was one of the centaurs. It had been attacked and killed, only a few moments before. It was not a fair fight. The centaur never had a chance. The body was ripped up so badly he could not even guess who it might have been. He was going to have to find the other centaurs and let them know. Something, very dangerous has taken up residence in the forest. The problem was he had no idea what it was. He wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow.
"I'll be needin' to talk to Dumbledore. This could seriously affect our 'talks' with the centaurs," he announced to no one in particular.
Hagrid figured it was going to be a long night.