Chapter 14

Sarah opened her eyes slowly. It was winter at Hogwarts now, and Sarah was surprised when she didn't wake up freezing. Even under the fleece blanket that she always woke up under didn't do a very good job when the fire was dying and the temperature throughout most of the castle was most definitely below freezing. She gone to sleep on the couch many times after that night talking to Remus.

When Sarah realized why she had woken up, she glared up at her brother, who was smirking down at her. Why was he smirking? She thought for a moment, then realized she wasn't lying down completely. She was lying against something. That something had a head, which was resting on her head, and she cursed and sat up.

As his head dropped from its previous position, Jareth jerked awake and looked around. He cursed. "I fell asleep.", he said gruffly. "I didn't mean to."

Harry grunted. "I hope not.", he muttered, a little threateningly.

"Why?", Jareth asked.

"Oh, a brother's wrath can be terrible, if I set my mind to it."

"A brother I only found out I had a little over a month ago.", Sarah reminded him. He'd been very protective of Sarah as of late. Ever since he'd talked to Ginny about Michael Corner a week ago, he'd been trying to talk Sarah out of going to Hogsmeade with Michael. But Sarah had never been one to back out of anything. Even if Ginny or Harry told her what happened, Sarah still wouldn't have backed out.

Even if it was for the sole reason of trying to make Jareth jealous, even if she wasn't sure if she should be doing that.

Sarah decided to talk about something else. "Is Ron still going with Luna?" Harry nodded. "And Ginny is going with Neville?" Harry nodded. "And you're going with Hermione?" Harry stopped half-nod to glare at her. "Harry, you really should tell her."

"Yes, Harry, you should.", Jareth agreed, nodding.

"On the other hand-", Sarah started, glaring at Jareth.

"No, you're right.", Harry interrupter. "I'm your brother, I'm supposed to help with your problems. If I tell Hermione, I will be helping you."

"No, you would ruin everything."

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "Ruin what?", he asked.

Sarah snorted. "I wouldn't be able to humor you any more, and since if Harry made me tell you that I love you, though I don't, it would only hurt you more, I think." She took a deep breath. "You're my friend, Jareth."

"Strangely enough, that hurts almost as much as 'You have no power over me'."

Sarah decided not to tell him that she had most certainly been lying when she'd said that. "Yeah, well, truth hurts."

"Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl. It hurts like hell. Trust me, I know." Jareth looked up for a few moments and tapped his chin. "Hey, that's pretty good. " He started humming a tune, and sang under his breath, "Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl; cause it hurts like hell." He looked at them. "I'll have to write that down." He disappeared in a cloud of glitter.

Sarah parted ways with Harry and Hermione in the courtyard, walking towards the village with Michael.

"This your first visit to Hogsmeade?", he asked.

"Yeah, but everyone has told me so much about it.", Sarah answered. She pulled her thick cloak tighter around her and wished she had her blanket with her.

"So, what kind of things do you like to do?", Michael asked.

"I like to read and act.", Sarah answered, hoping he wouldn't find that strange.

"I like to read, too. I am in Ravenclaw."

Sarah laughed. "Luna Lovegood likes to read, too, but she reads the strangest of things."

"Luna's not so bad, once you get to know her. Her dad owns a magazine-"

"The Quibbler. Yeah, Harry, Ron, and Hermione told me a lot about her. She's a nice girl, and I like her well enough."

Michael nodded, then said, "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks first. We can get something warm to drink on the go. Madam Rosmerta has these charmed cups that allow drinks to stay warm even in this weather."

"Really?", Sarah asked, intrigued.

Michael nodded. "I've been begging for the spell for the longest time, but she won't give in." He grinned as they entered the Three Broomsticks. They left with steaming cups of butterbeer, and entered Honeydukes. They ran into Harry and Hermione there.

"He hasn't tried anything, has he?", Harry hissed at Sarah when Michael went up to the counter.

"No. Now stop acting like my brother.", Sarah replied.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I am your brother."

"Here Sarah.", Michael said, holding out her bags of crystal candy. It reminded Sarah of the rock candy Sarah saw in candy stores at the mall and gift shops at zoos and places like it. It had always been one of her favorite types of candy.

She took the bag, ate a peace, grinned, and said, "Thanks, Michael."

He handed her a packet of Drooble's, as gum was her second favorite candy. She popped a piece into her mouth and started chewing as she and Michael left for the Shrieking Shack.

Harry and Hermione laughed in the Three Broomsticks at a joke Harry had heard from a late night muggle TV show.

Harry quickly sobered when Hermione took a drink of of butterbeer. Here lately, he'd found himself staring at her for no reason whatsoever except that she looked absolutely beautiful. Like he was doing now.

"Hermione...", he started hesitantly.

She looked up at him. "What is it Harry?", she asked.

"Hermione... Well, you've heard the arguments me and Sarah have right?"

"Of course. Hard not to here, especially when it involves whatever is going on between her and Professor Shae."

"Hermione, it's okay to just call him Jareth."

She sniffed. "It's disrespectful."

"His ego doesn't need anymore respect. Anyway, I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about the arguments about... you."

"Oh, yes! Sarah thinks you like me or something, right?"

"Yes, well, that's the thing. You see she's not exactly-"

Jareth suddenly collapsed bonelessly in the empty chair at their table. "It hardly ever gets cold in my kingdom. I am not used to this particular Aboveground weather.", he told them.

"You know, if you're going to interrupt me, you're never going to get Sarah to admit to you what you want her to admit.", Harry pointed out to him.

"What are you- Oh. Okay. I'm going." He moved to get up, but halfway out of his chair, he gasped and gripped the edges of the table so hard, the table cracked. His face became contorted with a look of rage Harry had only seen him wear once: when he'd almost killed Malfoy. "Sarah.", he growled, and he strode out of the Three Broomsticks.

"What was all that about?", Hermione asked.

"I have no idea.", Harry answered. Almost ten minutes later, when he looked out of the window, Harry's blood ran cold, and he stood up abruptly and ran outside.

Sarah laughed as she threw a snowball at Michael. The Shrieking Shack loomed behind him, and he cursed and looked around wildly, as if expecting a ghost to pop out of nowhere and throw more snow at him. Instead, he saw Sarah laughing.

"That's not funny!", he shouted. "This place is haunted."

"Doesn't stop me.", she told him.

He seemed to think for a moment. "Nor me.", he replied. "You know, I thought maybe I'd do something different this time, but I guess not."

She looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

"Sarah, have you heard the stories about me?" Sarah shook her head. "Well, you see, everyone says I'm a man-whore, who if he doesn't get his way with the girls, he beats them up and forces them into it." (A/N Wow. You know, they don't say that kind of stuff in the books, do they?)

Sarah laughed. "That's ridiculous. You don't act anything like that."

He shook his head and came to stand next to her, looking at the Shrieking Shack. "But the problem is Sarah... they are absolutely right." Sarah gasped in pain as he clutched her arm in a vice-like grip. "I like a challenge."

"Run a labyrinth in 13 hours, and we'll see how you fare after that!", Sarah shouted, and her hand shot into her pocket and grabbed her wand. She was spun around to face him and he chuckled darkly. She raised her knee, with quite a bit of force behind it, to kick him where she knew it should hurt. Instead, she kicked something quite hard.

"I learned my lesson on that one with Ginny Weasley. It's the only reason she got away. Nowadays, I have protection."

Sarah cursed viciously and clutched her wand tighter. He seemed to notice because he laughed and took her wand. She gasped as it left her, as if a piece of her soul itself had been ripped away from her. "Bastard.", she gasped. The ripping away of her wand had left her feeling weak, as if she hadn't learned anything from Jareth.

Jareth. Sarah closed her eyes. Jareth.

She suddenly felt herself flung in the snow, and she looked up at Michael. He had her wand in his left hand and his in his right. A spell was on his lips and he raised his wand to bring in swishing down. Before he could, however, a gloved hand grabbed his.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you.", said a familiar voice. Sarah was a little hazy on the details after that, since her vision kept going in and out. It seems Jareth threw Michael with quite inhuman strength against a tree. Sarah remembered seeing his face, full of fury, the same face he'd worn at the Quidditch match when he'd nearly killed Malfoy.

Finally, everything went silent except for the crunching of snow getting nearer. Something slender was suddenly press into her hands. "You'll be needing this back, I think.", Jareth whispered.

Sarah gasped as her strength came flooding back as her wand once again connected with her. That, mixed with the shock and disgust, was enough to make her turn over and throw up. Jareth was silent. He merely pulled her hair back and waited patiently for her to get it out of her system. After she was done, Jareth wiped off her mouth with something wet and soft. Sarah finally looked up at him. His eyes were full of concern, none of that fury he'd shown just moments ago. She sighed as he gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair. For a moment, she forgot what happened. But when she started to pull away, it all came flooding back, and she cried. Jareth clutched her tightly, and she clung to his chest, soaking his shirt beyond want any man should have allowed. Jareth was patient with her. After she was done with looking weak in front of one of the most powerful men in the worlds, she carefully pulled away. He looked at her for a few moments, wiping away her tears.

She finally said, "I hate looking weak in front of you."

He chuckled a little. Not enough to make her feel bad, but just enough so that she would know he definitely did not agree with her assumptions about herself. To confirm the fact, he replied, "You are not weak, my precious thing. You are one of the strongest young women I know."

She sniffed. "Then why do I suddenly have to rely on you to save my arse every time something happens?"

"I think you would've taken care of the past situations very well even if I didn't interfere with them. But I love you, and I prefer to do the dirty work for you."

Sarah took a deep, shuddering breath. "Oh.", she said simply.

"Are you... all right? You know, all things considered?", he asked, inspecting her closely.

Despite the fact that she was numb all over, she nodded. When she tried to stand up, however, she swayed on the spot and fell into Jareth arms. "Damn.", she muttered.

"Put your arm around my neck.", Jareth instructed. She did so, and he helped her up. When she tried to support her own weight, her knees shook, and Jareth took hold of her once again. "Come on, love. I'll help you back to the castle. I'm sure your brother will have something to say about this, and I can't wait to hear it."

"If you didn't kill Corner, Harry will.", Sarah agreed weakly, gladly wrapping her arm around his neck once more and leaning heavily against him. He conjured the fleece blanket, wrapped it around her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and proceeded to help her back to town.

When they set foot.... Well, actually, Jareth was practically carrying her now, so perhaps Jareth was the only one who actually set foot on anything. But when they made it back to town, several people gasped. No one came to help, they just gaped. It wasn't until the door to the Three Broomsticks burst open and Harry ran toward them that Jareth was able to take some of the burden off his shoulder.

"I told you not to go out with Michael.", he growled as he wrapped her other arm around his neck and took some of the wait off of Jareth. "I told you, you stubborn girl."

"Harry, are you saying you knew what would happen?", Jareth asked.

"Ginny made me promise not to tell even before she told me what had happened.", Harry answered in his defense.

Jareth glared at him. "You could've prevented this."

"Oh, come on, you know Sarah even better than I do. I wouldn't be able to stop her!"

"He's right, Jareth.", Sarah put in weakly.

Jareth growled. "You little idiot.", he growled. "You stubborn, insufferable, pigheaded, deranged, demented, crazed idiot."

"Too many words. My head hurts.", Sarah whispered.

"Shut up, Jareth.", Harry snapped, and proceeded to help the Goblin King help Sarah to the castle.

Ah. Well. Ummm... right, well... That could've gone better...

Next chapter, Christmastime, and somewhere in the next, say three or four chapters, we hear a confession from Harry to Hermione about his feelings. I'm not sure yet where I want to put in Sarah's confession, but I'll have it around the same time. Anyway, tell me whether or not it sucked and whether or not you thought it was a good idea making Michael Corner a man-whore/would-be rapist, though that may be kind of harsh. I wasn't actually planning on it, but having another Malfoy scene didn't seem like it would work, since he's hiding. I actually have a very good basis for that character. There was a guy at my school who was a lot like that, slept with nearly every girl in the school. Hated the no-good bastard. But he's gone now, thank the gods, and I will talk about other more pleasant things. Like Christmas. Sarah gets a lovely present from her Goblin King.