Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world belongs to JK Rowling, and everything Labyrinth belongs to Jim Henson. I'm just borrowing bits for a while – honest!

An Immortal Magic
By Cariah Delonne.

Chapter 7

Sarah ran into Draco Malfoy outside the Great Hall before breakfast the next morning. She sighed as she watched his pointed face twist in malice, his eyes glinting as they met her own. She was in no mood to confront him so early in the morning – and before breakfast, no less.
She looked around her. Ginny and the others had already disappeared towards breakfast – just lovely.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, her mouth in a thin line.

His eyes narrowed at her flippant tone. He gripped her by the arm and steered her into a secluded alcove, Crabbe and Goyle behind them.

"Hey…!"
Malfoy snarled as he held Sarah against the wall, his wand threateningly close to her. She tried in vain to grasp her own wand, but failed as Malfoy motioned to Crabbe, who pulled her wand out of her bag with a flourish. Goyle stood in the doorway, keeping watch and cracking his knuckles threateningly. Sarah had to admit that while they were not too bright, they made rather effective henchmen.

Without her wand, Sarah felt very exposed and threatened. Sure, she had crystals, but she had realised that while she remained untrained, they remained unreliable at best.

"Why," hissed Malfoy, "can you conjure crystals, yet you are in Gryffindor?"

Sarah blinked. That wasn't what she had expected. She hadn't really known what to expect, but "Why can you conjure crystals, mudblood?" or a similar comment along yesterdays line of questioning would have been much less bizarre.
Malfoy obviously knew more about crystal magic – immortal magic, her mind corrected – than she did, but that did little to appease her curiosity. Why was it strange that she should not be in Slytherin?

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer. Fighting him she squirmed, pulling against Malfoy's grip.

"Williams…" he warned. "I will hurt you…" his wand moved closer, and two whispered words rendered her immobile from the neck down.

"Malfoy! Release me!"
He smirked annoyingly. "Tell me what I want to know."
Sarah's eyes flashed. All she wanted was her breakfast – she could feel her stomach complaining. There was little chance of a normal day of classes with something like this happening first thing in the morning.

"Why," he repeated, "did the hat put you in Gryffindor, with crystal magic running through your veins?"
Immortal magic! Her mind corrected automatically. She thought it was probably prudent not to let Malfoy know that minor distinction, especially in her current predicament.

"Because I'm not a lying, cheating little scum like yourself, Malfoy!" she hissed angrily.

He took a step back angrily. "How dare y…"

"Well, well, we meet again, Mr Malfoy," another voice said in clipped tones.

Draco frowned at Sarah as they both realised who had entered the alcove. Cursing under his breath, he muttered a counter-charm, releasing her. He turned, and gave a low bow to Jareth.

"Your Highness," he muttered, his face as impassive as the Goblin King's.

Sarah stared at Draco. "You know who he is?"

"Of course, don't you?" he sneered in rely.

She ignored him as she brushed past him and Crabbe, noticing wryly that Goyle was backed against the wall, face pale as he regarded Jareth. She snatched her wand casually from Crabbe's fingers as she passed. As she reached the doorway, she looked up into Jareth's face, impassive as ever, as he blocked her exit.

"Let me pass, Jareth," she said darkly.

He said nothing, merely regarded her as one would a child, and did not move. She turned to scowl at Draco as he made an indistinguishable noise behind her, but to her shock he was staring at her incredulously. She frowned in confusion.

"Miss Williams," Jareth stated expectantly. Turning back, she noticed he had stepped to the side. She took a step forward, but he held a hand out in front of her to halt her. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at him, her mouth opening in objection.

"Never," he started, cutting through her remonstrations, "address me so informally again. Ever."

She nodded, her face still set in a frown, and he let her pass. Fuming slightly, she entered the Great Hall.

Malfoy had been stunned that she had addressed him so informally – of course, she had yesterday as well, but that was in shock. Obviously he wasn't just going to let it slide. But that Malfoy knew Jareth's identity, his title, worried her more at present. She scowled deeper and took a seat on the Gryffindor table between Ginny and Ron. Both greeted her merrily, Ron through a mouthful of cornflakes. Hermione watched him and rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of "Boys!" before she too greeted Sarah cheerfully.

"Where were you?" questioned Ginny curiously. "You were only just behind us, but now we're already halfway through breakfast…"
Sarah shrugged. "Just talking."

Her scowl gradually disappeared entirely over breakfast, being surrounded by her friends was enough to cheer her up considerably. Even the deep glare Jareth sent her as he entered the Hall for his own breakfast – despite chilling her insides – did not dampen the mood created by sitting with her friends.

Professor McGonagall began giving out fifth year timetables soon after Sarah entered, and they were greeted by many groans. As Sarah looked down at her own timetable, she added her own sound of displeasure to the many complaints. Running her finger down the line entitled "Monday" Sarah read "Arithmancy, double Potions, Ancient Runes, and double Defense Against the Dark Arts." She sighed. Ginny peeked at her timetable and sighed as well.
"Oh well," she muttered with a grimace, "At least we'll suffer together."
Sarah couldn't help but agree.

Slowly, students began to filter out of the Great Hall towards their classes, and reluctantly, Sarah and Ginny made their way to Arithmancy.

An hour later, Sarah felt as though her head was about to burst. The lecture about the importance of their OWL's in June had taken up almost all of the lesson. Sarah wasn't sure if she could handle two hours of Snape as well. She sighed – and Jareth at the end of the day… she couldn't imagine things much worse than a day that began and ended with Jareth.

Except extra lessons. Inwardly, she groaned again.

As the fifth years entered the dungeons, they fell silent, the small pockets of chatter dying away in Professor Snape's presence.

"Quiet!" he snapped unnecessarily. "The instructions are on the blackboard. You have two hours – begin."
Instantly, the class sprang to action.

Looking up from her work a few minutes later, Sarah stopped short as she met Snape's gaze. It was cool and calculating, as he examined her from a distance. He turned away again after a minute, but Sarah couldn't help but wonder how many members of the teaching staff knew of her unusual talent with crystals. Given Snape's wary and calculating observation of her, it was obvious that he, at least, knew of it.

Ginny sighed as they moved to the Great Hall for lunch. "I'm glad this morning's over," she muttered, as they joined the rest of the Gryffindors.

"I'd drink to that," Harry agreed, raising a glass of pumpkin juice. They all grinned, and laughing, raised their glasses.

"To the end of Monday mornings!"

It seemed to Sarah that the happiness and relief of mealtimes was directly proportional to the miserable feeling of classes. She mentioned this to Ginny as they left Ancient Runes, worn out from another lesson filled with the importance of their upcoming OWL's.
Ginny laughed, agreeing with her friend as they made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sarah was feeling distinctly apprehensive as they neared the classroom, and Ginny suggested she go to the hospital wing. Sarah shook her head, knowing it would only put off the inevitable.

They took seats in the back of the classroom, Sarah trying to be as inconspicuous as possible – which is quite a challenge when you're four years older than the other students in the room. She noted with a scowl that they had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins.
The class was obviously quite excited about the prospect of a new teacher. Sarah couldn't see why – there was a new one every year. It had begun to lose it's charm.

When Jareth entered the room, it was obvious he wasn't planning on conforming to wizarding conventions by wearing robes – he wore his usual attire.

His cloak was a deep, dark green, and it's high collar made his features more angular and chiselled. He wore dark tights and a cream shirt, open to reveal the pendant hanging from a chain around his throat. Sarah mused that he couldn't have worn anything more different from usual wizard apparel.

However – he was far from a usual wizard.

He surveyed his class with distaste, his lip curled in a sneer as he stood imperiously before them.
The class seemed to hold its breath, waiting for him to speak, and when he did, his voice was crisp – cool and authoritative.

"I am Professor Sidhe. You will all refer to me by my said title or by 'Sir' at all times." His eyes lingered on Sarah for a moment. "Unlike normal wizards, you will find I do not use a wand, but crystals as my source – or channel – of magic."

Ginny glanced sideways at Sarah, who ignored her.

"…however, for the purpose of this class, my crystals will form the same" his mouth thinned in dislike "spells that you may encounter in the wizarding world."
He regarded each member of the class with cold eyes, before assessing their aptitude in dark creatures, curses and jinxes for the remainder of the lesson, occasionally creating a creature out of a crystal to test a student.

As the lesson began to wind down, Sarah sighed inwardly. It hadn't been half as bad as she had expected. She felt herself relax considerably, as large weight was removed from her shoulders.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the day's classes, and Sarah felt her stomach sink as Jareth called out to her for her to remain behind before she had a chance to leave. She bit her lip and motioned to Ginny to carry on. "I'll catch up with you…" she muttered.
Slowly, she made her way to the front of the classroom.

"Yes?" she asked irritably. Her raised his eyebrows at her impudence.

"Yes, sir?" she corrected with a sigh.

"Careful, Sarah, or I will put you on detention."

She regarded him with a frown. Was he joking? "Detention?" she asked, trying to stifle a laugh. The Goblin King was standing in front of her, threatening her with detention?

He turned back to her. "Don't mock me Sarah. I don't think you would enjoy my idea of detention much. It's a far cry from your human standards."
Sarah didn't miss the threat, her mind immediately drawn to the memory of the oubliette. She shuddered.

"I didn't call you here to argue," he said derisively. " We need to arrange your extra lessons." Inwardly, Sarah sighed. And here she was, hoping he had forgotten – for at least one day.

"Is there a problem?"

"No – sir."

"Good. Then take this." Carelessly, he threw her a crystal.

She frowned. "What is it?" she asked without thinking.

He raised an eyebrow. "It's a crystal, nothing more."

"But if you turn it this way, it will show you your dreams…"

"Yes," she said impatiently, shaking off memories, "but what does it do?"

He smirked. "It will summon you for your lessons"

"Summon?" she said incredulously. "It will summon me to you?"

"That is the general idea. You will place it on the ground, and it will lead you to me."

Sarah was still staring at him in disbelief. "You expect me to drop everything to take a lesson in crystals whenever you summon me? That's hardly-"

"-fair?" he taunted, taking a step closer to her.

"I was going to say 'reasonable'."

He smirked, showing his sharp canines. "Same thing."

Her temper flared, but he help up his hand to halt her arguments as they began to form on her lips. "Enough, Sarah. You will come immediately when called, and you will master crystals. You have no choice in the matter."

"And if I don't come immediately?"

His eyes flashed dangerously, as he took another step closer to her. They were now only inches apart, Sarah glaring up at him, the crystal clenched in her hand.

"I wouldn't recommend it," he said darkly.

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A/N: Woot! Another chapter! -does little dance- Please don't kill me – I know I'm a slow updater.
This is essentially a Laby fic – hence why it's under the Labyrinth section – I want to point out that while I'm using JK Rowling's wizarding world, it's mainly the setting I'm after.

A HUGE thank you to Dryad13, Moonjava, Just a Starving Writer, Queen Diamond, Lovely Doom, kali-luv and kaio.
You are all wonderful! -hugs-

Please R&R!!

-Cariah.