Wands and Crystals
Chapter 1:
Jareth waited for the moment he could escape his duties as the Goblin King and retreat to his bed chambers and meet the enticing creature many termed the Labyrinth's Champion in the dream world he had created for them, though she was not particularly fond of spending time in this world just for them. He could tell she wasn't allowing him all the time he'd like to have with her, she would push her body to stay awake as long as she possibly could, but he didn't care. He planned on breaking her down and make her want to call him back into her life, he had already been at it for close to a year and only managed to get an occasional civil conversation out of her.
Pulling his mind to his droning advisor standing in front of the desk, he held up his hand to silence the man and dismissed him until the next morning. Honestly, it was the same boring reports from the day before and the day before that. The man looked a little miffed about being abruptly dismissed and stalked out of the room without a word, knowing a punishment would be on his head should he utter any word against his king. Jareth moved from his desk to the window and watched as the sun lowered on the horizon for a few minutes before smirking and retiring to his chambers where he promptly laid down on the sheets and fell asleep.
He floated into the dream world in a cloud of black smoke and glitter; they were in the ballroom tonight but something was off...
He looked around the room trying to figure out what it was that was off then he spotted her, she was already awake, but she was holding frantically to a pillar in an attempt to stay upright as if she was too weak to stand on her own. Her eyes met his and for once they were not harsh and cold towards him, but pleading for help.
He moved to her side quickly and wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her up as her body began to slump. He tried to assess what was wrong with her, but being as they were in the dream world he couldn't make anything out. Her eyes locked with his after a few seconds, they were slightly glazed, but he knew she was thinking something as her brow drew up in question towards him. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face gently.
"Is this real?"
"Only as real as any other night, my dear."
"I'm missing, they must not know it yet..."
"What do you mean, Sarah, who doesn't know. You're not missing."
"Dumbledore, he needs to know that I'm missing."
"But you're just asleep, luv, you are not really in the Underground."
She just shook her head but did not correct him so he assumed that was what she had believed. He held onto her until she lightly pushed away when she felt she could stand on her own, they didn't speak for a couple of minutes. During this time he contented himself with admiring her ever increasing beauty; she had begun to fill out into a young woman, the dresses she adorned in the ballroom always accented her curves.
The dress she had on tonight not failing its predecessors; its material was the color of flawless ivory, it was a heart-shaped corset on top and small sleeves that stopped just after they covered he shoulders. The skirt fell in a loose flowing bell around her legs and ended at her ankles where a pair of matching pumps graced her delicate feet. Matching gloves ran up her arms till they covered her elbows, a light sheen of fairy dust covered her exposed skin, though he expected all of her was under that dress; he shook the images from his head, noticing she was staring at him now.
She looked very much a courtesan of his personal Court, but with an innocent air to her, her hair was piled eloquently atop her head, silver vines weaving through the tendril; only a shimmering translucent white eye shadow adorned her eyes, her thick eyelashes serving as a natural eye liner. Lastly, a pale pink glow made her lips pop. Her eyes blinked slowly at him, and he could see the naive confusion in her eyes, she never did fully understand what she did to him.
Voldemort snarled at the blonde Death Eater before him, the man was clearly desperate to redeem his failure of retrieving the prophesy in the Department of Mystery..."Why do you bring me this child, of what importance is she to me, Malfoy?"
"My son has told me that she has special powers that differ from normal wizarding magic, a recent development than what she had last year."
"Is there any proof that he provided that can verify that his observation is true? I do hate when people waste my time."
"He gave me none if he has any, but she was with the group of kids in the ministry tonight, she could possibly tell us what it is said. I'm sure the Potter boy told all of them before we arrived. I'm sure you could get her to tell you anything you wanted."
"And why should I be the one to question her, surely it should be you as you are the one who failed in bringing me the prophesy I need to know how to defeat Harry Potter. It seems to me that you are lucky I'm going to give you this one last chance to not fail me."
"Yes, my lord..." He turned and looked down at the unconscious girl and prodded her with his foot, trying to awake the girl and was unable. After another minute of this try and fail process his frustration became too much and his peers softly snickering around him. "Crucio!
What was this strange look in his eyes, it wasn't the usual cruelty he displayed when they were together, she was used to him constantly testing her defenses. He even went so far as to use his sexuality to try and break her down, but all he managed to do was make her blush at the dark promises his sultry voice whispered in her ear as his fingers played across her hips before she pulled away to rid herself of the awkward and uncomfortable feelings he made her think about. Whatever this was it was softer and more gentle in nature, but it made her question everything even more.
"Jareth..." Her voice whispered when his eyes focused on her lips, but before she could say anything more a scream ripped from her throat as a searing pain came over her mind and body. Her hands grabbing the side of her head in attempt to make the pain stop.
He was pulled out of his trance when she began to scream, her body curling into itself as if in some physical pain, but there was nothing around them to harm her. As her body slumped completely to the ground he realized it was fading indicating she was waking up, the screams never ending making it clear that the pain was not from this dream, but her reality.
Because of her banishment of him from her life when she was awake he had to consult with the Fae counsel to allow him to interfere, and even though he was the Goblin King there were certain rules he couldn't override without assistance per the power of the Old Ones, who had made the laws. Using one of his crystals he called the counsel to assemble in the throne room of his castle...he had to open a direct portal to Sarah, somehow.
Gasps filled the air around Lucius as he performed the unforgivable spell on the unconscious girl, not because they had never seen it done in such a manner, but because the attack was so out of character for him. He was sneaky and suave, attacking more like a Venus fly trap than the viciousness they were currently witnessing...this was more like people such as Barty Crouch Jr. For a few minutes only the convulsing of her body was the only reaction he got out of her, then, a scream began to rip from her throat as she was brought painfully to wakefulness again. When he could tell she was completely conscious he ended the curse, she panted for breath as her eyes scanned the room full of hooded and masked people, Death Eaters. Her eyes finally landed on Draco's father and his master the Dark Lord who stood behind him. Then the older Malfoy spoke...
"What did the prophesy tell Potter, child?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Crucio!" He yelled again in response to her unsatisfactory answer. "Don't lie to me!" Ending the curse he repeated his question.
"I told you... I. Don't. Know ..."
As Malfoy went to punish her again the Dark Lord stopped him with a quiet command, and then she found a snake-like face in front of her; the Dark Lord was looking intensely at her as if he was trying to look into her soul.
"How is it I don't know you...you have no remarkable resemblances to any of the major families in the wizarding world...but I sense something in you that tells me you are not a half blood. What is your name?"
"Think that's going to tell you something?"
"A fighter I see, I like that in people, unlike the simpering fools that follow me about out of fear..." There was a rustle of uncomfortable shifting around them. "So what can I call you, dear child?"
The fake sincerity in his voice disgusted her. "Sarah."
"What a lovely name...now, Sarah, we know that you were with Harry and his friends at the ministry and that he had the prophesy, and only those who the prophesy is about can hear what is said. Now, I believe I have a right to know what it says just as much as Harry does. And to show I can be generous, if you tell me what was said I will let you live...you can even go back to your normal life. So, what did it say?"
She merely stared at him with an emotionless face, this served to infuriate Malfoy who screamed Crucio so powerfully that the intensity of the curse was triple than the first one he had cast on her. She screamed and withered on the ground until Voldemort commanded him to stop and bent down to the ground and pulled her face up to look at him.
"You can end this right now, little Sarah, just tell me what I need to know."
"Go to hell..."
His eyes flashed with anger, he demanded two of his followers to pick her up. Once they had her up he pointed his personal wand towards her and started the torture up all over again until she just hung by her arms in the two Death Eaters' grasp. At a silent command from their leader they dropped her to the ground once more, he turned his gaze down to her making her want to shudder at the evil there, but suppressed it.
"I don't usually show this much generosity to people who defy me," he snapped, his wording making the corners of her lips turn up to smirk as she held his gaze. "You think I'm being funny? That I'm joking?"
"No, but you have an interesting choice of words in my opinion...and you think they will work their magic on me." She took a few seconds to catch her breath then went on. "Hate to break it to you, but you don't scare me, and I've faced someone even more powerful then you...and guess what. I. beat. him. So whether I live or die tonight I will not tell you what I know. Why would I tell someone how their downfall has already been predicted?"
"Nothing is set in stone, my dear."
"Want to bet on that?" Her lips turned into a self satisfied grin.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Her eyes widened as the green curse came flying at her, she raised her arms to protect her face though she knew it was useless. Then, she felt a surge of power rise in her, not her wizard magic, but the fae powers running in her veins.
Voldemort was laughing hideously, he felt a rush from killing one of Harry's friends even if it was a waste of magical blood. It wasn't until he heard his followers gasp collectively that he felt something was wrong, turning back around he saw to glowing green eyes glaring back at him.
She had survived.
