Hello again my dear Readers- thank you for sticking with me :)
I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, added this story to their favourites and or alerts lists since I last updated.
This chapter is quite possibly the longest to date- enjoy :-)
}Chapter Six{
Once again the residents of the Castle beyond the Goblin City were torn from their slumber by the screams of terror coming from Prince Airen's bedchamber. Mere days after the Prince and Princess' sixth birthday little Airen had begun to suffer horrible nightmares. No potion the Healers could produce did anything to help the little boy. Each night it was left to his mother to hold him until he fell asleep again- thankfully the nightmares only tortured him once each night, a small mercy but a mercy non-the-less.
Sarah ran into Airen's room to see him thrashing around on his bed- his limbs flailing as he struggled to escape from his dream-assailant.
"Airen" she cooed. "Airen my love, wake up now, you're safe"
"Mama!" Airen screamed, still trapped in his nightmare. "Please, Mama"
"I'm here sweetheart" she promised. "Open your eyes my darling"
"Mama?" the little boy's voice was quiet now; his green eyes, dark with exhaustion, stared blearily up at her.
"You're safe" Sarah promised him. "You're home, in your own bed and mama is right here"
"I had a bad dream again" he announced solemnly, as he did every night, his eyes were surrounded by dark circles. "He beat me and locked me in a dark place"
"Who hurt you little one?" Sarah asked, she allowing him to crawl into her lap.
"I don't know" Airen told her, tears welling up in his eyes. "I kept calling for Papa but He kept saying that Papa was dead and that was why I was with resssp-spectical? people like them"
The Goblin Queen pulled her little boy into a comforting embrace, she kissed his feathery mane. "Do you mean respectable, Airen?"
Airen nodded, his black hair flopping into his eyes as he did so.
Sarah sighed and began to sing, an old lullaby that her father used to sing to her and by the end of the second verse Airen had fallen into a deep sleep.
"Sleep well my little prince" she murmured, kissing his pale brow and settling him back into his bed.
"Mama?" a tired little voice asked from the doorway which separated her bedchamber from her brother's. "Whassup with Air?"
"Just a nightmare baby girl, go back to sleep sweetheart"
Instead of doing as she was told the six year old princess padded over to her mother and climbed into her lap; snuggling into her warm arms.
Sarah rose and carried her daughter through to her own room.
Jareth was waiting for her when they returned to their chambers- she relaxed in his arms and was just about to drift off when her husband asked.
"Another nightmare?"
"Yes" she sighed. "It hurts to see him like this- these dreams are destroying him and I just feel so helpless- three months Jareth…"
"I know my Sarah" Jareth sighed. "I know, but I have not been idle my love- I have found someone who may be able to shed some light upon the cause of these nightmares"
"Who?"
"An Oracle, a wise woman- she has set up a home on the western border of the Labyrinth"
"But that's two days away?" the thought of leaving the twins again, even for a short while was odious to her
"Lyra and Sirius will take care of them, pet" Jareth told her- in years past she would have thought he was reading her mind but she knew her husband, and he knew her. They were close enough to read each other like open books. "We will be away five days at the most"
How she wished she could argue- claim that she would rather stay at the castle but she was a mother first and foremost and would traverse the circles of Hades for her babes.
"When do we leave?"
They didn't manage to leave until two days later. That first day; not ten minutes before they were due to leave their came a summons. The goblins returned with a small child with badly cut hair, ill-fitting, dirty clothes and a worrying greenish-grey tinge to his skin.
The runner; a young woman dressed in a very small white skirt, pink tube top, covered with a faux fur jacket. Her legs were covered with fish net stockings and stupidly high heeled shoes. She had peroxide blond hair, three inches of makeup and carrying a reek of cheap alcohol. She didn't get very far, after flirting shamelessly with Jareth. The woman had given up after half an hour- when she'd freaked out when the worm has said 'Ello' to her.
They left at dawn the next day- leaving two unhappy six year olds and their kingdom in Lyra's care.
As predicted they arrived on the western border of the Labyrinth two days later. The Oracle's Hovel was horrible- overgrown with nettles and brambles, studded with long vicious looking thorns- except for the narrow pathway into the creature's abode.
Sarah winced, disgusted.
Jareth squeezed her hand. "I know, but remember why we are doing this"
That was when a rasping voice came from within the hovel.
"Who comes?"
"You know very well who we are" Jareth responded
There was a pause and then…
"Enter Goblin Majesties" the Oracle called from inside her hovel.
Jareth and Sarah looked at each other
"For Airen" Jareth squeezed her hand
"For Airen" she agreed and together they walked into the small dwelling.
Inside the Hovel was dark, dingy and claustrophobic- it was furnished with a small single bed and a fire; seated in the middle of the floor was a Sprite, mostly hidden in the folds of a tent like garment, her hair was matted and she surveyed them with scrutinizing acid yellow eyes.
Sarah was reminded of Master Yoda from Star Wars- under other circumstances she would have laughed.
Jareth bowed slightly and addressed the Oracle in her own tongue- Sarah only recognized a few words of the conversation. Finally the creature motioned for them to sit with her.
"You come about your son; and the nightmares which have begun to plague him" she spoke in heavily accented Gobbledygook.
"Do you know why he has these dreams?" Jareth asked
"Aye" she nodded. "But I doubt the answer will ease your minds"
"Tell us" Sarah requested. "We need to know"
The Oracle drew out a long clay pipe and took a drag, exhaling a ring of foul smelling bottle green smoke.
"There is a prophesy surrounding the little Prince" the Oracle told the King and Queen. "A Prophesy binding his Highness to the Wizarding World Above- he was marked by the Dark Lord Voldemort on the night he fell."
"Marked?" Sarah gasped remembering the lightning bolt shaped blemish which had marred her baby boy's smooth brow when he had been returned to them five years earlier. "Jareth! The curse scar…! On his forehead..."
Jareth stroked her back comfortingly, he was as worried as she was; he knew that Albus Dumbledore had an unhealthy interest in his son and his whereabouts. "Do you know the contents of this Prophesy?"
Night had fallen by the time they returned to the castle and Sarah excused herself almost instantly, claiming exhaustion. Jareth kissed her cheek and left her to it, while he and Lyra went to his study to discuss an issue which had arisen- in the Fireys' forest.
Admittedly she did not wish to sleep- tired as she was from the two days in her owl form- she wanted to see her children.
Aeowyn lay, sucking her thumb (a habit she professed to have outgrown) cuddling her favourite teddy bear; in a deep and peaceful sleep her black hair spread across her pillows. After dropping a kiss on her daughter's brow, Sarah moved to check on Airen, whom she could already hear whimpering.
Sarah stood in the doorway of her son's bedroom, arms folded and a light frown on her face- she couldn't sleep and had returned unconsciously; only two days hence she and Jareth had been told that it was Airen's fate to destroy the Dark Wizard Voldemort. Airen would have to learn the ways of Mortal Wizardry- Harry Potter; (the Boy Who Lived) would have to return to the wizards who had essentially stolen him from them for eleven years. The Oracle had told them that the whole of the Wizarding world would see nothing but the Myth created six years ago. She didn't want to send him away but as she had no choice she would prefer somewhere that they knew something about- and that meant Hogwarts.
"Sarah" Jareth's voice was quiet and close. "Are you alright, precious?"
"Why him?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Airen, even as Jareth wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. "Why our son? They won't leave him alone"
"I know my love, I do not like this anymore than you do" Jareth replied. "But I do not want to think about the consequences of ignoring this prophesy."
Sarah shuddered, ignoring the prophesy could plunge the whole of the magical world into chaos in as few as five years.
"Worry not darling" Jareth seemed to read her mind. "He will not go through this alone- he has his Aunt and Uncles to teach him what he needs to know about the Wizarding world. They have more intimate knowledge on this than we"
"I still don't like it" Sarah sighed.
The issue of the Prophesy binding Airen to the Wizarding World could go no further until the fifth member of their small council arrived. Toby was now seventeen and in his final year at Hogwarts, with a bright future as CEO of Gringotts ahead of him. Jareth had manipulated Dumbledore into allowing Toby a week's leave- it was amazing what the threat of the Bog could do (even if it was all inside the dreams of a mortal)
Toby's arrival was not one moment too soon. He was allowed a day to reacquaint himself with his home and the twins but on the second day he was present in the council chambers to be made aware of the contents of the prophesy.
The goblin king summoned a crystal and bid it recite the damnable verse that tied Airen to the Façade of Harry Potter.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...
born to those who have thrice defied him,
born as the seventh month dies...
and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,
but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...
and either must die at the hand of the other
for neither can live while the other survives...
the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord
will be born as the seventh month dies..."
There was silence as the deep harsh voice of the prophet faded. It was Toby who broke the silence.
"The Prophesy doesn't fit him though" he remarked. "I know that the twins were born at the end of July, and that Voldie marked Air with that curse scar- but you and Sarah haven't ever defied Voldemort, have you?"
"Voldemort is only part of the Wizarding world- he does not know of our world- to his mind Airen is Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, a couple who did defy him thrice" Jareth replied, pulling Sarah into his arms and rubbing her back to comfort her; she had gone an alarming shade of grey- this was not a topic that the Goblin Queen liked, but she wasn't prepared to sit on the side lines while her son's future was hanging in the balance (Jareth, for his part, couldn't be more proud of her).
"So, because James and Lily died before the end of the war down here the whole of the Wizarding world still believes that they really did have a son called Harry?" Sirius asked, for clarification.
"It seems that way" Jareth nodded gravely.
"And is that why I couldn't remember Airen when I first came here?" The formerly human wizard asked, addressing his girlfriend. "Because I was just a part of the Wizarding world?"
"Albus Dumbledore is an accomplished leglimens" Lyra announced ignoring her partner. "If Airen is indeed their chosen one, therefore to attend Hogwarts then you should give him training in mental defence- if we don't it will be all the harder to keep our little man out of the old git's control."
"What's a Leglimens?" Sarah asked confused
"Essentially he's a mind reader" Lyra clarified. "Rumour has it that Voldemort is/was one too"
"My baby boy amongst mind reading wizards?" Sarah was not a happy Faerie
"That is why both twins shall be trained in defence of all ways- mental, physical and magical, my love" Jareth took his Queen in his arms. "I say both as I highly doubt that Aeowyn will sit by while this prophesy hangs over her brother's head. It is safe to bet that both of the twins will play a role in the destruction of this so called Dark Lord's downfall."
The meeting went on late into the afternoon and, when it was finally adjourned Lyra was the first to leave, she'd been called away to deal with an issue which had arisen within her subjects. Toby and Sarah had left to spend time with the twins. Jareth was just about to leave too when Sirius spoke.
"May I have a word in private your majesty?" Over the past year Sirius had only ever adhered to formalities when the need arose.
"Certainly Lord Black" the Goblin King instantly transported them to his study. "What can I do for you?"
"Uh" Sirius had been thinking about this occasion for years (dreams of a future with Lyra were part of what kept him sane whilst in Azkaban). "Well, while you and Sarah were travelling to see the Oracle, I took a trip to the High courts to ask your dad if I could marry your sister- he said that as she lived in your kingdom you were the one to ask… so…?"
"You seek my permission to marry Lyra?" Jareth repeated
"Yes" he nodded. "I've loved your sister for years…"
"Say no more" Jareth interrupted, thrilled to have something to distract him from this grim business with his son and the prophesy. "I would be honoured to accept you into the O'Malley clan. I trust you have a ring?"
"Of course"
"Then what in the Underground are you still doing in here? Go and propose to my sister"
~V~
Aww Padfoot's going to propose :)
Let me know what you think of this latest chapter- please leave a contribution in the little box-
