The first thing that came to Sarah's mind that very morning was that it didn't hurt anymore. Her body felt relaxed and buzzing with some kind of strange energy, like magic washing over her muscles and skin, tenderly wrapping around her like a cloak. It felt almost sinfully good, though when she opened her eyes the sheer effort and willpower it took her to do it made her realize that she was as weak as a baby kneazle. The world took some time to come to focus and when it finally did the shelves of potions and the crisply white beds of the hospital Wing appeared in her line of sight. Trying to prop herself up with the help of her arms, that shook a little with the effort, she wondered briefly what had happened to land her on the Hospital Wing last night. Fuzzy, almost blurry images of some kind of fight on the Great Hall floated into her mind but everything became all-too-painfully-clear when she looked around her and saw him.
HIM. Him who belonged in another realm, in another time, in another part of her life altogether. Him who was sleeping in a throne-like armchair, with his head titled to a side and his golden hair cascading down his right shoulder, one of his hands resting on one of the arms of the chair and the other quite snugly holding one of her very own hands. And it was not right, her mind seemed to be screeching at her in a voice that curiously resembled Rita Skeeter's, not right in so many levels it was scary.
"Oh Merlin" she half-whispered, half-groaned as the events of the previous night came rushing back "There is no way I can get out of this one without a full explanation"
She closed her eyes briefly, already picturing how she would tell the people who had trusted her that part of her wasn't even human, that she had selfishly wished her poor baby-brother away and that she had managed to fall head over heels for 'tall-fair-and-handsome' over there who, just for the record, was still holding her hand, and had almost allowed that underdeveloped silly little crush to ruin the life of Toby.
'Don't get to comfy with any kind of personal contact, you know? It would probably clash with the whole sworn-enemies type of relationship you two have sustained so far' the horrible voice in her mind appeared again, making Sarah snatch her hand back immediately. Holding her breath the girl waited to see any reaction from the Sidhe, but he remained blissfully asleep.
With a quiet sigh of relief she flung her feet over the mattress and into the floor, hissing soundlessly as her bare feet met the cold stone. She looked at herself, clad in a white long, cotton nightgown with long sleeves and knew that it had been Madam Promfrey the one to change her clothes, gladly. She looked for them, waiting to find them in a bloody heap in the floor but instead they were neatly folded over a chair, robe included. There was something odd about her clothes, though, they seemed different. She shrugged the feeling of oddness and went behind a screen to change as quietly as possible. The clothes even felt different and, when she looked into a mirror closely, she realized why.
Her white shirt fit nicely around her torso, her skirt was a few inches above her knees and her robes… Her precious robes were almost form-fitting near the hips and fell gracefully around her in a flattering way. The bagginess was gone, completely gone. And there was something else, a sense of magic lingering in the clothes, of Fae magic. She knew the essence to be that of the Weaver, Aracne.
"He must have asked her to repair or clean my clothes and she… She shrunk them?" she muttered in disbelief "How dare she, the meddling vixen!"
Muttering a soft 'bloody Fae' and trying to stand straight with what little energy she had Sarah peeked from behind the screen to make sure Madame Promfrey was nowhere near. She could just imagine the cries of disapproval the medi-witch would utter if she saw her up and about and she didn't feel like getting screamed at anyway.
"Besides, she already has a Fae to deal with. That should keep her occupied once he wakes up" she mused in a silent voice as she clutched the wall for support and walked in unsteady legs into the corridor, deserted from students. Her hair, which she had to tie in a low ponytail with a black ribbon since she had been unable to find her pins, seemed content with torturing her with the bangs that were too short to be tied back and were reluctant to be tucked behind her ears. She realized briefly what a strange sight she must look, quite different without the bun and the baggy, concealing robes, but it was hardly a matter worthy of her attention at that particular moment, so she went on down that corridor and turned to the left, her moves mechanic as she had had her encounters with horrible hexes and nasty curses from the club a thousand times before and had memorized the path from the Hospital Wing to the central Hallway of the castle.
Most of the students were there now, going to the Library or the grounds as it was Saturday morning. Keeping herself well hidden in the shadows she let go of the wall, sure now that she could safely walk without assistance and quietly entered the Great Hall…
Breakfast that Saturday morning was a most mysterious affair. On the staff table Professors Snape, McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore were whispering amongst themselves, and the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin weren't actually looking as if they were quarrelling, which made it look all the more suspicious. On the Gryffindor table, on the other hand, the Weasley brothers, all of them, were talking in hushed voices with Harry and Hermione, and all of them- even the Twins, masters of optimism and laughs- were sporting serious faces. Ginny in particularly looked quite pale and distressed and fidgeted in her sit uneasily while staring at her backpack as of it were a Dementor about to jump at her and give her the Kiss.
"Well, now what the Hell is going on?" Angelina snapped suddenly, slamming her books down on the almost-empty Gryffindor table. Breakfast was over yet the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione still talked in low voices, and though she had been asking all morning along with Alicia and Katie what was wrong, no one answered.
"Fred, George, we are not going to leave till you tell us what's going on" Alicia reasoned "So you might as well spit it out because I have noticed that three of the members of the staff table are reluctant to go too, and I figure you all want to talk about something important that happened last night"
"And how do you know?" Ron huffed while looking at his plate, toying with the rest of his scrambled eggs. Katie was the one to answer.
"Sarah didn't sleep on her bed last night. She never made it from the common room to the bedroom, and neither did you all till almost midnight, Lee told us"
Immediately an uncomfortable silence ensued while the twins, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny stared at each other, obviously trying to figure out what to answer. Finally all eyes darted towards the staff table, where Dumbledore, who still was talking with Professor Snape and McGonagall, gave a faint nod.
"I think you should sit down, Misses Spinnet, Bell and Johnson deserve an explanation, even if we don't fully have one ourselves" the old wizard instructed. Hermione sighed and nodded and took it as her duty to fill in the three girls, who gasped in all the right places.
"And the blond-haired man is still in the castle?" Katie asked after the tale had finished, looking quite awestruck as everyone nodded. Angelina then gasped and muttered something to Alicia, whose eyes became wide as she nodded to her friend.
"What's wrong?" Fred asked, eyeing his girlfriend as if to try and see in her face what had the two Gryffindor chasers so distressed. Neither of the two answered but rather raced out of the room and up some flight of stairs yelling that they were going to go fetch something that might answer some questions.
"Merlin, George, I think we fell in love with a couple of nutcases" Fred commented in a mock-dramatic voice while pressing one of his hands against his chest, were his heart would be, with an air of drama that reminded everyone in the room of certain blond-haired, egomaniac DADA teacher some years ago…
"Galloping gargoyles, Fred, I think you are right!" his twin replied, with a horror look in his face "Whatever are we going to do?"
"How 'bout shutting up?" Ron muttered under his breath, tough everyone else- except Snape that is- appreciated the change of mood. Just then the girls came rushing back, panting and gasping and holding onto their respective boyfriends to stay on their two feet. Alicia clutched something in one of her hands, a sort of sketchbook that all the students recognized as Sarah's.
"I better show it to them, these too are a little bit breathless" Katie finally said, a little bit exasperated and snatched the book and opened swiftly "Long, spiky hair, you said? Strange eyebrows, delicate and sharp features? Don't look at me as if I was crazy, but I saw him before" there were plenty of sceptic looks "You don't believe me? Then look at this and tell me it's not him"
She flipped the pages of the book till she found the one she wanted and then showed it to everyone. Sure enough the stranger of last night stared into oblivion drawn in charcoal. The same eyes, lips, cheekbones and spiky, flowing hair; there was no mistaking him for anybody else.
The man in the portrait was indeed the blond-haired stranger in the castle.
"What does this mean?" Ginny asked quietly, a puzzled look in her features. Headmaster and Deputy-Headmistress looked at each other and found the same answer.
"She knew him. She whispered his name" Hermione said slowly "She must have met him before"
"Well, I have indeed met him before. As for knowing him, I do hope our acquaintance isn't that deep; though, Merlin aid me, I do think that in some level that statement is true" someone said softly, voice flat and melodic. Sarah Williams stood in the threshold of the Great Hall, her expression one of guiltiness and reluctance. Everyone in the room froze for a couple of seconds before the Twins, Angelina, Alicia and Katie rushed towards their fellow student and knocked her off her feet in a most painful manner with a bone-crushing hug.
"For Merlin's sake, I think I was better off with Finian" the girl whispered while rolling her yes, trying to get everyone off of her. She succeeded, surprisingly, when everyone at once decided to let go of her and it was all she could do not to tumble into the floor. Grasping the wall behind her with shaky hands she looked at her fellow classmates, all of them talking at once.
"Who the hell was that Death Eater?"
"How did you know about the clock and why did you go alone?"
"And how about that blond man? Who is him and how is it that you know him?"
"What did you do to Winky? What are you hiding, Sarah? And why did you keep it a secret all these years?"
She had her wand out before anyone could react. Muttering "Silencio" she waved her wand and the questions stopped, though everyone kept opening their mouth till they realized no sound was coming out and then desisted, though they glared at the girl in silence.
"I'm sorry" she said softly and once only, staring first at the students and then at the three teachers. "For everything. I shouldn't have gone alone, I shouldn't have let him catch me off guard, I shouldn't have come to Hogwarts after what I did seven years ago" as she spoke she moved towards a large glassless window- as were most of Hogwarts windows- and peered at the school grounds, taking a deep breath, unable to meet anyone's eyes out of embarrassment "The least I can give you then is an explanation"
There was a snort from the Potions Master followed by some muttering that sounded suspiciously like a snide 'How thoughtful'. Minerva McGonagall glared at the Slytherin Head of House and then glanced at the Head Girl.
"I believe an explanation would be satisfactory, Miss Williams, but I must tell you beforehand that I can think of no reasons for you to regret ever coming to Hogwarts" she said sternly yet there was some kind of faded softness in her tone of voice that brought relief to Sarah's heart.
"Thank you, Professor" she said quietly, half-turning to direct a small smile at the witch "That means the world to me"
Suddenly the smile vanished, her eyes gleamed silver and her right hand burned from all the magic accumulated suddenly on the crystal. It was the Labyrinth warning her of something and, as she looked at the entrance of the Great Hall, she knew. He had woken up.
"The explanation will have to wait for a moment, professor. He's coming… And he is not at all happy" she said in a distant, yet grave voice, her eyes never losing the glow till she blinked, and everything went back to normal.
"How do you know that?" Ginny asked, her eyes wide open. The girl shrugged as an answer before a roaring, ear-piercing scream could be heard all over the castle.
"SARAH!!!" a voice half-snarled, half-growled from somewhere inside the School. The girl visibly cringed and shook her head, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.
"That's one very pissed off Fae" she muttered under her breath as she felt a gust of wind signalize the entry of an extremely crossed Goblin King. Jareth strode into the Hall with his long overcoat billowing around him, the slight heels of his boots clicking fiercely on the stone floor, his eyes narrowed and blazing as a bright fire and focusing on her quickly. His whole body seemed to scream 'Bloody Murder' and the girl took some steps back till one of his gloved hands gripped her left wrist, yanking her to him.
"You ungrateful child! I leave you safe and sound in a bed after practically bleeding to death and allow myself to sleep knowing that you were alright but no…" he paused to catch his breath "I have to wake up to find that you had deemed yourself in perfect health and had scampered off to God knows where without so much as a second thought about letting me know, even though I did what I did last night" he finished ranting, backing the girl up against a wall, one of his hands still curled around her wrist.
For a moment Sarah just stood there, too stunned to speak. But as he went on and on she glanced around the room and when her eyes registered one particularly thing she snapped back into reality. There was something nobody had ever seen on Sarah's face before as she stared at the irate Sidhe in front of her. A deep feeling, a strong emotion that, at the moment, took the form of anger. She clenched her hands into fists and shoved him off, grabbing a handful of his tunic to keep pushing him off.
"You Bloody Bastard!!!" she spat at him, her eyes flashing green and silver, her hands on his chest as she pushed harder "You used her! A little, innocent girl! You were planning on getting her to use the book so you could magic yourself into my life again. You randy, egotistical, tight-wearing Fae" she snarled then, and everyone's jaws threatened to go all the way to the floor "You gave her the book! Of course, it must follow your commands; I should have suspected that you could move it at will. And you didn't care about how she would feel if she indeed wished anyone away, you didn't care if she died in the bloody Labyrinth, as long as you could have a go at the one person who beat you in your own game. You are not only a sore loser, Jareth, you are also an obnoxious, self-centred …"
But she never finished that sentence as a strange thing happened. The large pitcher of water of the Gryffindor table had levitated in mid-air as she had started to shout and had moved ever-so-slowly towards the Fae till it hovered above him and when she had called him self-centred, when her anger had reached its top mark the pitcher had simply shattered into millions of tiny little pieces, drenching the Fae from head to toe. Her mind registered at that precise moment the circumstances surrounding her tirade and the people present witnessing her first outburst in a long time and her face went from sickening-white to burning-red in a blink of an eye. She knew because she had felt it- and everyone else had as well- that it had been wizardry magic the one guilty of the incident and that it had never happened for over seven years. Never had she lost her temper to such a level. She glanced at the blond-haired Sidhe before huffing.
"Reparo" she muttered with a wave of her wand and the pitcher fixed itself "You are insufferable. I haven't had this kind of incidents ever since I stepped into Hogwarts… come to think of it I haven't felt this much ever since I came here. It's you, Jareth, you are the only creature on this realm and the other able to do this to me, to make me feel this strongly"
Too late she realized what she had said and snapped her mouth shut, taking deep breaths and raising one hand towards her forehead in sheer frustration while she turned away from the Fae, her face hot with blush.
"Wipe that smirk right off your face, your majesty" she all but snarled, knowing that Jareth would be smiling that evil, lopsided smile. The Fae flashed her a grin and waved his hand to dry himself.
"So we are back to titles, my Lady?" he said pleasantly, stressing the 'my Lady' with what sounded like a growl. It was plain to see that he wasn't happy about the change. The chestnut-haired witch was about to either tell him off or blast him into next week when…
"Oh God, Gred, I thing we are hallucinating" George said suddenly, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"I think so, Forge. Do you think this might be a side effect from the vapours of that Rainbow potion we brewed in a broom closet to make Professor Umbridge's hair change colours last week?" Fred answered, and everyone knew than that they were doing one of their performances.
"Nah, it can't be. We did it just fine on our second year when we turned Filch into a flashy spectacle of hot pink and tacky red for Valentine's Day"
Suddenly both twins looked blissful, as if they were remembering a good time in their lives.
"Ah, Gred, those were the days…" George said wistfully, with a mock-faraway look in his face.
"That they were, Forge"
"If you two could stop the reminiscing for the time being, I think we all would like a full explanation of what is going on" Professor McGonagall said, motioning to the Gryffindor table. Albus, Minerva and Severus (though he was reluctant to and sneered at the table for a second) sat on a side and the students sat in front, leaving two empty chairs in the centre for the Fae and the Head Girl. Sarah sighed and walked over to the table, but before she could reach for her chair Jareth was at her side and, with a small bow, pulled it out for her. Arrogant or not he was still a gentleman.
"Well, maybe the Death Eater business would be a good way to start. I want to get it out of the way and it's the simplest thing to explain. And, besides, it would interest all parties here present" she begun while Jareth nodded at her, apparently very interested in finding out why she had gotten almost killed "The man who tried to kill me, and yes it was a Death Eater, is Finian Bloodstone, and he murdered Belladonna Williams. His family had a sort of vendetta against mine; it was an ancient wizardry family feud what made him want to kill me. I guess he thought that with the Great Bella gone he had won at last, but then there was me. He must have found out about me recently and he acted on his own, I'm sure. Voldemort" there was a pause as people cringed "Wouldn't have let him expose himself in such a way. He looked almost… insane"
Sarah shuddered but Jareth smiled, showing off his vampire-like fangs. The witch turned to look at him and knowingly raised an eyebrow in a silent but clear question: What have you done?
"He was in the brink of insanity, you are right, and you wouldn't have me killing him so I simply gave him the last push"
"An oubliette, I suppose" she said quietly before a discreet cough prompted her to return to her narrative "Well, as for the rest, it starts with a book"
She then used the summoning charm to levitate the book from the backpack of Ginny Weasley to her hands and looked at it wistfully before dropping it into the table.
"My mother gave me that book when I was six, it was the very first I ever read in my entire life and it's the tale of a self-centred, bratty teenage girl who out of spite for having to baby-sit wishes her little baby brother away to the cruel King of the Goblins and runs a Labyrinth in order to get it back, before thirteen hours pass and her brother is turned into a hideous, witless goblin himself. By the time I was ten I had memorized it and when I turned fifteen I spent many afternoons acting it out on a park. Many of you might know that I was fifteen when I took the potion that turned me back into an eleven-year-old. Well, the night before, I was asked to baby-sit my brother while my dad and stepmother went to dinner…" she paused then and there was regret and guiltiness in her voice as she continued "I don't know what came over me that night, but I threw a tantrum, and ranted and raved till they left. And Toby started crying and he wouldn't shut up the poor darling, he must have sensed my discomfort. And I told him the story and in a whim… I got the words right. I wished him away"
Only one person gasped and it was Ginny. She looked up from the table she had been carefully studying and her brown eyes met those of the Head Girl and she nodded. She knew.
"And it turned out it was real. The book, the story, the Labyrinth… Everything. And the Goblin King" she paused to look pointedly at the mentioned monarch "appeared just as the book said and taunted me, trying to get me to give up my brother. But I had already done too much damage, and I decided to run the Labyrinth. I met people that aided me, and indeed went through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered but something happened that wasn't supposed to. I won"
There was a prolonged silence after that statement. Sarah had her eyes fixed on the table as if it was the most fascinating work of carpentry ever achieved. Finally she looked up and saw in everyone's faces that it was not that they were repulsed by her action, they were just having a hard time believing her and putting the pieces together. She found it quite funny that she had, for once, told the whole, unadulterated truth. She sighed and closed her eyes briefly, remembering everything in a flash: the maze, her friends, the cleaners, the fierys… The Ballroom.
"I'm telling the truth, as absurd as it sounds" she whispered "I swear"
Her tone was slightly sorrowful, and it caused a strange, unpleasant feeling in the pit of the Fae's stomach. He chastised himself then, but conjured a crystal ball the size and weight of a beach ball nevertheless and placed it on the table.
"She is indeed telling the truth, much to my dismay" he sneered, obviously displeased with the thought of her victory over him "And if you do not believe her, then I'll have to show you"
With those words the Sidhe brushed his fingertips across the smooth, cool surface, leaving a trail of glimmering glitter behind. Inside the crystal a thick, silvery mist begun to form and take over, growing white in colour and shining till it showed an image inside. The image of a fifteen-year-old girl with flowing chocolate-brown hair, a poet's shirt, a vest and a pair of jeans yelling to a tall, blond woman dressed fashionably and apparently ready to go out. The young girl inside the sphere stormed upstairs after a moment and was left alone in the Victorian House, where she went to a baby's room with apparent annoyance and picked up a sandy-haired toddler dressed in a stripped with and red pyjama and attempted to bounce him in order to stop his cries. The girl seemed distressed and angry at the same time and as she left the baby in his cradle she whispered something…
"Can't you skip this part?" Sarah asked Jareth casually, though she was visibly cringing. But it was no use asking, it was widely known that the Goblin King found immense pleasure in torturing her.
The words were heard throughout the room and Ginny gasped as Sarah closed her eyes and averted her gaze from the vision, her cheeks burning hot. The room was filled with noises and then Toby was gone and the French doors of the room opened to allow a shrieking barn owl of a pure white enter. The animal quickly shifted in mid-air into the tall, menacing figure of a man clad in black, from the tips of his boots to the tips of the strange, circular collar of his cape. His face, deathly pale in the moonlight, sported a smirk and he had an air of… Surrealism. Like a good Escher painting.
"You were using leather pants then" Sarah suddenly said, staring at the crystal as if she was entranced "How quaint"
There was obvious amusement in those words and Jareth's body tensed, though he remained calm, only a faint twitch of his lips acknowledging her words. Fred and George raised their eyebrows but had the good sense of keeping their mouth shut and everyone else was too enthralled with the sphere to notice anything.
Inside the crystal the scene had changed to show the labyrinth in all its splendour. The orange light of the blazing Underground sun bathed everything in sight, though the Labyrinth in itself seemed to glow silver from within. The landscape was surveyed from the top of a hill of red soil, were the King was explaining the girl, Sarah at the age of fifteen, the basics of the game, taunting her along the way.
"It doesn't look that far" the girl in the crystal whispered hopefully, looking at the farfetched castle at the end of the maze with a thoughtful expression on her face. Suddenly there was warm breath on her neck and a voice close to her ear and she half-turned towards the face of the Goblin King, feeling self-conscious at his proximity.
"It's further than you think" he taunted with a half smile "And time's short"
He begged her mockingly and yet with a hint of sincerity to turn back, but they both knew she couldn't and she wouldn't. He vanished then and for that moment on the vision inside the orb became a flash of images… Herself outside the maze, talking to a short, sturdy little man with a head that looked to big to be supported by his body.
"Hoggle" Sarah half laughed, half sobbed. She hadn't seen him in a long time, since he had gotten married two months ago. He was expected to come home from his honeymoon in about two months, as he had taken six months leave from his job at the gates of the Labyrinth to visit his family and introduce them to Gertrude. Jareth had been with him surprisingly lenient.
Then another flash and she was talking with the worm, and then making lipstick marks on the floor tiles, and standing in front of two doors with odd guardians. She saw herself arguing with the heads and then choosing a door, confidently, and falling right into the lion's den… or more accurately into the helping hands. She blushed then, remembering her folly at choosing down and falling straight into the oubliette but forced herself to watch the scene nevertheless. The darkness of the prison brought an unpleasant chill up her spine and she shivered, finally averting her eyes from the sphere.
"I still see it sometimes, when I close my eyes" she whispered "It never really leaves you, and sometimes it feels as if part of me was still there, curled up in the dark"
"You shouldn't have made it that far" Jareth snapped suddenly, waving a hand to make the scene change "You weren't supposed to get there on the first place"
The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow and looked stonily at the Goblin King.
"It wasn't an accusation, your majesty"
"It wasn't an apology, my dear" he hissed in reply before turning his attention to the sphere. He saw himself teasing Sarah after pretending to be a beggar and turned a deaf ear to the girl's amusing comment of "There are the tights", which earned funny glances from Fred, George, Ron and Harry. Soon the figures of Ludo and Sir Didymus appeared along with the fieries and the cleaners. The visions were mere flashes of images, and it all went at a vertiginous speed. And at one point Sarah dared to be hopeful and think that maybe, just maybe, one particular episode of the Labyrinth would flash quickly just as the others and no one would ever notice it. But the images in the orb slowed down at the point were she ate the peach and her eyes glazed over.
"Oh, no" Sarah muttered, a hot blush coming to her face as she ducked her head and covered her face with her hands. The silver mist inside the bubble started taking the form of the glittering, crowded ballroom with the colourful images of the dancers draped in damask, silk and satin and twirling following the commands of the music, their Machiavellian smiles and sharp eyes hid behind the demonic masks they wore. The faint sound of chattering and laughter mingled with the hypnotic music playing on the background, and, with the glittering adornments of the room, made it all look like some sort of hazy, confusing dream.
"It's beautiful" Alicia whispered suddenly, obviously caught by the magic of the ballroom and the masked tempters and temptresses. The music seemed to be calling for someone and soon she appeared in sight. It was a girl dressed in a long, mother pearl and ivory dress with a low cleavage and off-the-shoulder, puffy sleeves as well as a wide, bell-shaped skirt. From her ears and neck dangled diamond earrings and necklace and she wore no mask. She had silver vines entwined in her chestnut mane of hair and her wide, green eyes looked around her as if she too was calling for someone, and when her eyes rested on the figure of a man with a blue jacket spread with glitter unmasking a few meters before her face betrayed recognition. The dancers regarded her with unveiled lust and wickedness, almost sinfully as she pushed her way through the crowd, clearly fearful of the veiled courtesans and the glittering, dizzying ballroom. Her eyes roamed the room, looking for something… no, someone, though she seemed not to know why and she wouldn't give up, not even when she narrowly missed a snake that had suddenly jumped out of a basket she had been eyeing doubtfully.
Just as it seemed that the girl was bound to be left along among the crowd of strangers she spotted the familiar, unmasked face that quickly disappeared behind the dancing couples. The girl spun around to look for the blond man she had seen, certain that he had been the one she had been looking for and expecting all along. She didn't notice as the man hid behind and danced with a red-haired, voluptuous woman while he carefully regarded her journey through the room. A brunette whispered what looked like promising words into his ear and he half turned to smile wolfishly before proceeding with his unrelenting vigil of the girl. Sarah didn't seem herself at all. In the labyrinth she had been strong, but in the ballroom she had become vulnerable, the only innocent, open soul in the whole room, a curious, wandering human dressed like she really was… a woman-child. An in-between. As old as the earth and yet as fresh and pure as the dew that covered it when dawn broke every day.
Hiding behind a fan of orange feathers, flanked by two women the Fae approached the mortal carefully, seemingly wanting no more than to keep watching over her when the raven-haired woman holding the fan playfully lowered it just as the human turned towards them. As soon as their eyes met they wouldn't look away, and it was difficult to measure who was more entranced, if the girl or the monarch. Caught off guard he had let himself be pulled fully into the dream that shaped itself to grant the innermost desires of its protagonists. No longer able to control his own body he approached her, his face stony but the wonder in his eyes betraying the fact that he was captivated by the woman and the child that merged themselves into that creature he had in front of him, her open, sincere eyes looking at him with curiosity, confusion and a strange hint of longing. Bewitched both and as if obeying a superior force the girl placed on hand on the Fae's shoulders and entwined the fingers of the other with
those of the man's left hand, which was, surprisingly, without glove. Upon mere contact both beings were shocked to the core by the powerful surge of magic between them. The unexpected but not unwelcome bond seemed to temporarily combine them into one essence and one body, and they danced to the tune of the song as if they had rehearsed for hours, almost as if, by force of habit, they had grown accustomed to their way of dancing, their steps and gestures fitting perfectly. As the crowd grew more menacing he pulled her closer to him, whispering sweet nothings into her ear, singing. But something had changed, their souls had been separated, they no longer danced and she no longer looked at him but at the golden French clock that tolled, announcing that it was twelve o'clock and there was only one hour left… for something. Not remembering what but knowing it was important the mortal tore herself from the monarch's arms and, avoiding the intents of the dancers to catch her, and missing the confused and slightly pained expression of the King, she ran to the place were the dream ended and, seeking to destroy it, flung a nearby chair at it. The crystal shattered then, the screams of the dancers and shards of glass feeling the air as the girl fell… and the vision ended.
It had been the longest of all scenes and it had left the whole room deathly silent.
"Merlin" Katie finally uttered "Was it really you Sarah?"
But the girl seemed not to hear her. Her eyes had glazed over, her head was titled to a side and she stared at the crystal sphere intently, almost transfixed. She seemed lost in a world of her own, her expression resembling the one she had on the ballroom: one of confusion, innocence, wonder…
"Sarah? Sarah!" Alicia asked and then yelled, nudging the girl for good measure but Sarah didn't seem to feel it at all "Come on, Sarah, this isn't funny!"
Suddenly two talons dug themselves in the girl's left shoulder and snapped her out of her reverie. She shook her head forcefully and her eyes focused again. Her gaze became the sharp, nonchalant one she always sported and she tore her eyes off the bubble, closing them for a second. Funny enough Jareth also jerked when she did and seemed to wake from a dream.
"What?" the witch asked absentmindedly, petting her owl before daring to look again at the crystal "I'm sorry Licia, I lost it for a minute"
"Was it really you, Sarah?" Katie asked again patiently, noticing a new scene was forming inside the crystal and everyone barely herd the whispered "Unfortunately" of the chestnut-haired witch before their attention was consumed by the current vision.
The Junkyard passed quickly, as well as the fight in the Goblin City, with Ludo calling for the rocks and Hoggle bravely coming to the rescue. All the students ohhed and ahhed on all the right places, the girls occasionally gasping when Sarah came close, time after time, to certain death. There were some laughs every time Sir Didymus attempted to 'charge against his vile enemies' and Ambrosias wisely decided not to follow his orders.
"That dog was always so much smarter than the knight" Jareth muttered dryly "If it weren't for him I would have a hard time trying to keep him from killing himself in one of his bloody crusades"
Sarah's mouth twitched at the comment, but she made no reply, remaining loyal to her knightly friend. The scene shifted to the interior of the Castle, where Sarah was leaving her friends to go the rest of the way alone.
"Should you need us…"
"I'll call"
The scene shifted then and for a moment everyone thought something funny had happened with the orb, because the room that it showed made no sense at all. There were stairs everywhere: leading up and down, stairs crossing diagonally, stairs with the steps upside down, stairs that pointed up but led down and such nonsense. Hermione seemed to recognize the room from some painting and Sarah just nodded.
"The Escher Room" she said simply "The living Nightmare"
A faint music drifted from the crystal but the Sarah inside seemed not to notice as she ran up and down, climbing stair after stair in search of her brother. It was when she stopped to breathe deeply that he appeared behind her, dressed in fine black leather and started to sing. She turned to face him, her eyes wide at seeing him get closer and closer till her went through her, quite literally and she spun around, shocked, to continue staring at him. The Laws of gravity didn't seem to apply to the room and it made it all the worse to look. When she finally spotted Toby (with strangely the help of Jareth) he was hanging upside down from her point of view and it didn't matter how much stairs she climbed or how much she tried to reach him, the child seemed to slip farther from her grasp. Jareth watched her from afar and Sarah noticed for the first time, because she had been occupied with saving Toby in the past, the strange look he gave her while he sang, almost as if she was breaking his heart, as if he hoped she would turn to look at him and listen, really listen, to his song. But she hadn't, for at that precise time she had spotted Toby again, sitting precariously at the edge of a pit. She was higher than him, and to jump seemed the only possible way in which to get to him, though it also seemed a suicidal action… It was too high, she would never make it alive.
"Oh no, you didn't…" Alicia started saying "You couldn't have been that foolish"
Sarah smiled.
"What do you think made the Hat put me in Gryffindor? My good social skills and natural charm?"
And everyone (this time including Severus) gasped when they saw Sarah effectively and resolutely jump towards Toby, though at the last minute they realized that Sarah did not fall, but rather was carried gently and safely to the ground as the Escher Room dissolved around her. It was the end and everyone knew it and leaned forward to watch.
"Beware Sarah" the Goblin King came out of nowhere looking worn out and rather old with the feathered cloak and the ever-present tights "I've been generous up until now but I can be cruel"
Sarah shuddered. Of course he could. Of course he was.
"Generous?" she asked instead, disbelieving "What have you done that's generous?"
"Everything" he sneered and proceeded to enumerate while walking in circles around Sarah, as a panther circles its prey and the witch repeated everything from memory "Everything you wanted I've done. You asked for the child to be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have re-ordered time, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you" he paused and Sarah stopped mimicking, seeing his image looking so tired and breathless "I'm tired of living up to you expectations of me" he whispered "Isn't that generous?"
Sarah snorted from her place in front of the bubble.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered" the Sarah inside the crystal whispered, as if transfixed while she took steps towards the Goblin King as he backed away for a change "I've made my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City… For my Will is as strong as yours…"
Jareth stood up abruptly from the chair and stalked off, away from the bubble, as if trying in vain to escape what was sure to come. He turned his back on everyone but did not leave the room.
"Stop! Look, Sarah, look what I'm offering you" the Fae inside the crystal said suddenly "Your dreams… I ask for so little. Just let me rule and you can have everything that you want"
"Merlin, Sarah, that's just too much" Katie sighed "I would have melted right there and right then"
"He does have a way with words..." Sarah admitted "but I had a bit of that too, if you could wait"
Alicia and Angelina sighed dreamily and, when everyone stared at them they shrugged apologetically. It was all a tad romantic, anyway. Jareth turned around but dared not go to the table. It had to pass, and he willed it to pass quickly. Just as when he was alone in the goblin Castle and the memories found him unguarded…
"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave" the Fae let out at last
"My kingdom as great…" the Sarah from the bubble looked triumphal at the blond man in front of her and said clearly "You have no power over me…"
And then it happened. Sarah found herself repeating her words from seven years ago.
"You have no power over me"
And just as she said that Jareth's eyes widened and he howled in pain as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground, one of his arms softening the fall. He winced painfully and breathed deeply and raggedly for a couple of seconds, his eyes out of focus. Sarah jumped up to aid him but was stopped with an accusatory glare from the Sidhe. She looked at him stoically, refusing to turn her eyes away. She wasn't fifteen anymore, she was not going to be afraid of him.
"Your eyes, Sarah" the Monarch suddenly whispered while standing up in shaky legs "Your eyes can be so cruel… Just as I can be so cruel"
That comment broke through her façade, and for the second time in a day she though she would die from feeling so much at once.
"Why then, your majesty?" she snapped "Why did you do it? Why did you bloody rescue me then?"
The Fae laughed then, a rich, deep chuckle and arched an eyebrow at her, seemingly amused.
"Can you live without the Sunlight, Sarah?" he asked, whispering afterwards "Can you love without your heartbeat? Of course you could, but it would all be terribly dull and dreary. Besides" he smiled rakishly at her "We are well matched, you and I"
The girl gaped at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and huffing.
"Don't you dare try that again. There is no child to save and no dangers untold and hardships unnumbered to go through so you can spare your sweet nothings and use it on the next courtesan that comes your way. And you most definitely do not have power over…"
But she didn't get a chance to complete that though as Jareth suddenly teleported from were he was to stand right in front of her, one of his gloved hands over her mouth, his head bent so that he could stare at her in the eye.
"Do not repeat that lovely statement. It has a rather unpleasant magical effect on me when uttered by you, if you haven't noticed" he hissed through clenched teeth. They were at it again, like in the old times when neither of them seemed to be able to 'be the bigger person' and stop quarrelling. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you saw it, there was a whole roomful of people more than willing to interrupt them in order to satiate the curiosity.
"Ehem" Dumbledore coughed strongly, a sound that in no way resembled the soft yet annoying 'hem, hem' of a certain DADA teacher. Sarah and Jareth both titled their heads to look at the old man, and the monarch arched an eyebrow.
"So you believe now?" he asked in a silky, mellifluous voice while stepping away from Sarah, who looked towards her friends and teachers with hope in her eyes. Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes, of course, we have no reason to believe that Miss Williams would lie to us. She conceals quite a lot, but she never lies" he said simply, and invited both of them to sit down again with a simple gesture. They both complied and waited for the questions to come, but no one seemed to be able to utter anything.
"So…" a tiny voice said at last "That on the crystal ball was the Underground?"
Author's Note: IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ. Once again, patience is your forte, people! I have an excuse for my delay... Exams. Lots of them. essays. Lots and lots of them. My head is full of Stalin and Castro and Communism for the moment but I am starting the eighth chapter and it is good so far. I hope you like this one, it was very difficult and maube a tad too long, I know. Well, I hope to see you soon, though I have an extended essay calling out to me, so we'll see.
Best Wishes,
Artemis Samhain,
Hell's Librarian
