A/N: so this is in response to a wonderful review! candinaru25 thank you for the review I really appreciate it ^.^
So now that this story and my other HP story are on even terms, I'm going to be writing the next chapters in tandem with each other and posting as often as I can.
Hope you guys like it~
Chapter 2: Backlash and He's the WHAT?!
Aeronwen growled as she was forced to attend yet ANOTHER meeting with Dumblebore -oops she meant Dumbledore. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as he prattled on and on about her "doing her duty to the Wizarding world for the GREATER GOOD!" she mentally scoffed. 'for whose "greater good" I wonder'
Her 6th year so far was going as good she thought it would. Dumbledore was encouraging Snape to try and weed out the "Junior Death Eaters" and give him names of the students who had the Dark Mark. She quietly snorted. Yeah right. Like THAT was gonna happen. She honestly felt bad for the kids but she now knew -thanks to Malfoy Senior and Junior- what exactly Riddle was originally going for when he formed his version of the Knights of Walpurgis. He didn't want blood supremacy he wanted EQUALITY.
Another thing was that her and Hermione were being watched closely by Ronald -who was unfortunately out of St. Mungo's. No doubt the old goat was behind that as well.
She suddenly had the thought that she should have let the hat sort her into Slytherin. Although looking at Snape -who was giving her a long suffering look as the headmaster kept prattling on and on about the Death Eaters and how they had to "rescue the students who were children of them."- she couldn't help but wonder if Dumbledore would have still insisted that the hat was wrong and would have placed her in Gryffindor anyway...
She gave him a pitying look and remembered the conversation they had had about her sorting. He agreed that Gryffindor had been a safer choice. Where better to hide a Snake then in the Lion's den? Thinking about the Twins she thought this couldn't be more true in their case either. Snape had begrudgingly agreed with her about the terrible twosome. They should have been in Slytherin.
Knowing that Dumbledore would keep going and wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon, she let her mind wander again. As her thoughts began to form, Jareth popped into her mind. She noticed that she had been thinking more and more about the man she had -literally- run into in Gringotts a few weeks ago when she managed to escape Hogwarts on a Hogsmeade weekend. Claiming that she had a lead on another of Tom's Horcruxes -the Goblins had confirmed that she was NOT a Horcrux, the mental link she had with Tom was from him being a parselmage, they both had parselmagic after all- the Headmaster had no choice but to let her go.
Jareth had heard the whisperings about her and refused to listen to them. She had to smile a little when she remembered that he said he would rather hear her story from her then from a rag like the Prophet. 'I should find out how to get in contact with him soon. I might need to go after Skeeter sooner than planned if she keeps being such a bloody pain in my-' suddenly realizing that the Order meeting was wrapping up she prepared herself to hear once again that Dumbledore was only doing all of this "for the Greater Good!" she rolled her eyes in Snapes direction only to see the man also had a scowl on his face when the old man said his famous line once again.
They were both getting tired of it. Looking over at Remus she could see he was as well.
The poor Werewolf was having a hard time controlling himself around the old Headmaster. Come to think of it so was Sirius. Ever since they found out that Tom Riddle hadn't actually gone after me as a child and that it was Dumbledore that had sent Pettigrew after the Potters. Needless to say both remaining Marauders had been furious...and a little homicidal. But they both knew they had to keep up their acts. If only for a little while longer.
Then there was the issue of her sister. Ceridwen. Aeronwen stifled a sigh. Her sister was in Slytherin and had had a target on her back since. Ceridwen was actually the reason Draco had approached Aeronwen in the first place. She let a small smile grace her lips. 'It doesn't hurt they've been dating since the beginning of 5th year.'
That caused Aeronwen to remember something else. She had gotten an owl from Cedric earlier that day. It wasn't surprising since after the Tri-Wizard Tournament they had begun to write each other more. He had become somewhat of an older brother to her as Fleur had become an older sister. The letter she got was disconcerting to say the least. He told her that his familiar had turned out to be an animagus. Draco's long lost sister to be exact. He wasn't sure why the panther had decided to reveal herself but said that he would need to meet with her as soon as possible.
She had a feeling she wouldn't like the reason why Briar Malfoy had to go into hiding in the first place.
Aeronwen:
Walking out of the meeting, I rubbed my temples. I had to admit that I may kill the old man myself if I couldn't figure some way to thwart him soon.
"Aeronwen!" I groaned. Not Ronald again. Plastering a fake smile on my face I turned to face my -former- friend.
"Yes Ron? What is it?" I had to keep the sneer off of my face. I was spending too much time with Severus.
"I was wondering since last time you had to leave to find a you-know-what, if you wanted to go with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he said.
Oh. Dear. Salazar...he was insane, deranged, mental...and he seriously didn't know how to bathe. 'Is he serious?' resisting the urge to strangle him and blow my cover, I put an apologetic smile on my face.
"Sorry Ron, we've got to practice for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw. Their new Seeker is better than last years. I also have some extra homework I need to do to make up for my missed class last week." 'When the old goat pulled me out of DADA to go on a wild goose chase to a inferi infested cave. At least he almost died...too bad he didn't' I thought once again resisting the urge to sneer at the Weasley boy.
"Oh. Snape again?"
"Yeah. You know how he is." It's a good thing Severus and I had discussed his attitude towards me. We had both agreed it would look too suspicious if he started being nice or indifferent towards me so he had to keep up the act he had been performing the past five years. However, the Slytherins didn't have to keep up their act. After learning that I was an heiress of the Slytherin line, and that I was originally supposed to be in their house, they had taken me in as one of their own. Instead of studying in the library, I had now taken to studying in the Slytherin Common room.
The Slytherins were surprisingly welcoming and understanding. The same couldn't always be said for the Lions. With the exception of Neville, Hermione, Seamus, Ginny, Dean, Lavender, Pavarti and a few others that were still attending Hogwarts there weren't many Lions that were still on my side.
"Alright. You're still coming to movie night right? Seamus picked The Labyrinth. It's a muggle take on the legend of the Goblin King."
I nodded. I really liked the fact that Minerva had started that little tradition among the house of Lions. The purebloods of the Gryffindor house seemed to like it as well.
"Yeah. I'm still planning on it. I'm actually headed to the library to see if I can finish the last inch of my Potions essay. I'll see you later." I hated the act I had to keep up, but it was necessary.
For now.
"Alright I'll let the others know." 'I'll bet you'll let the goat know as well hmmm?'
Finally. I wandered through the castle. Once again thinking about Jareth. I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but where? I continued wandering for the next few hours, until I found myself in front of the Fat Lady. The portrait just smiled at me and swung open. I thanked her and walked through.
As I settled on a chair away from Ron but close to Neville, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Pavarti, Lavender, and Hermione, I allowed the movie that we were watching to gain my full attention.
About halfway through the movie, one of the purebloods laughed. "As if that would actually work!" he sneered and turned to Aeronwen. Oh no. This wouldn't end well. "Let's see shall we? I wish the Goblins would come and take you away Potter, right now!" he laughed and some of the other Lions laughed as well.
Neville had gone pale, Ginny looked scared, Seamus was trying to calm down the female Weasley, Dean was trying to calm Lavender down, Pavarti was making sure Neville was alright, and Hermione was looking around nervously.
I however was focused on the now open window and the wind that had suddenly appeared.
A barn owl swooped in and captured my attention.
The Lion who had made the wish laughed. "See I told you it's not-"
"Well well. What do we have here?" a voice suddenly asked.
I was shocked. 'Well, now I know where I've seen him. Ragnok has a portrait of the Goblin King in his office.' I felt like hitting myself. 'Why didn't I realize it before now though?' now I had to pay for an idiot's mistake. Sighing I turned to face the Goblin King.
Jareth had heard another Wizarding child say that blasted sentence. He was just figuring out a plan to help Aeronwen without her finding out who he was too early. He growled and transformed into his owl form and took off for the Aboveground. The power of the wisher took him to Hogwarts.
A feeling of dread suddenly filled his mind.
Swooping in through the open window Jareth didn't notice anyone but the sputtering pureblood, who he had by then assumed to be the wisher.
"Well well. What do we have here?" he asked.
Jareth noticed one of the Witches who was sitting somewhat away from her housemates. The young woman froze when she heard him speak. He was confused. This was his first time being summoned to the castle and from what he could see he didn't recognize the girl who had stiffened.
He was about to comment when he heard the girl sigh and turn towards him.
That feeling of dread was back when he saw it was Aeronwen.
Suddenly the child who had wished someone away started laughing. "Well at least we'll finally be rid of you eh Potter? You and your nonsense about the Dark Lord being back."
Jareth suddenly had the urge to kill the boy. 'He either has no idea what he has just done, or he is truly and completely stupid.' he gave a mental sigh and resisted the urge to growl. "I take it you will not be running the Labyrinth then?" he knew the answer but he had to ask.
The boy just continued to laugh and then sneered at Aeronwen. "No. I won't be. Good riddance to her."
Jareth had no choice in the matter. The ancient laws said he had to take those wished away. Of course the small children who were not rescued by their siblings or parents were given to fey couples who couldn't have children but wanted them.
Aeronwen however…
Maybe he could make this into an advantage for both of them. He needed to find a way to teach her about her wild magic anyway.
There was also the matter of her creature inheritance that Ragnok had informed him about. Maybe the Underground was the best place for her until some things could be straightened out. Of course he would offer to let her friends visit whenever they wanted to or whenever she wanted them to for however long they could stay.
The girl wasn't going to be a prisoner if he had anything to say about it.
He merely nodded and tossed a crystal over to Aeronwen. Hoping she could see that he would try to explain as best he could later. She caught the crystal and gave an almost invisible nod as she vanished to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.
He also tossed a crystal to the group who looked distraught that the girl had vanished. It would only activate when they were truly alone to tell them what he was going to do and to invite them to visit their friend. Before he vanished he sent the group a meaningful look.
This was going to be interesting.
