Chapter 36 Written after watching North and South (YAY!!!!!) and drinking a large cup of hot chocolate… feeling a tad ill…)
When Sarah came too, the only thing she could see was blackness. When she tried to move, she found that her wrists and ankles had been bound. As she tried to look around the blackness, she realised that not only did she wear a blindfold, but she had been gagged as well.
Sarah struggled, trying to break the binds, but couldn't. After half an hour of rubbing her wrists together, trying to create friction and wear down the ropes, the only thing she had gained was chafed skin.
'Ok Sarah, calm down. You'll find a way out of here sooner or later. Maybe when they come to feed me, then I'll break away my binds and run to freedom. Of course, that would mean I'd have to be able to get through my binds, find an exit, and then find a way to get to freedom.'
As Sarah thought, it slowly came to her that she was, in fact, moving. From the way she swung side to side ever so slightly, she came to the conclusion that she was either on a train or a boat. Probably a train… there wasn't any water close enough and calm enough to travel by boat.
'So I'm on a train… from Hogsmeade, most likely, to…' Sarah swallowed the panic that was rising in her throat. 'It's ok Sarah, you can get through this.' Once again, it took Sarah quite some time to remember that she was, actually, a witch.
'IDIOT!' she thought.
Fidgeting around, she managed to get her hands under her robe, and reached, awkwardly, for her wand, which should have been in her pocket.
Note the 'should have been'.
"I'm afraid that won't work." A male voice said. "In my hand I hold your wand. Nevertheless, as a precaution, in case you have advanced further than your fellow students, here's a little something extra. Magica Constrictus." He said.
Sarah tried to question him, but only managed to produce a few muffled groans.
"What does it do? Well, the spell constricts your magic within your body, and makes you untraceable through wizarding magic. So don't hold your hopes up for your lovely little friend, Mr Potter, to come in and save you." He snickered evilly.
'Snickering?' Sarah thought. 'Am I still talking to Westley, or has he got himself an accomplice?'
At that moment, the door crashed open and the familiar voice or Westley Wixdinger rang out.
"Wormtail, what do you think you are doing? Tormenting my little guest, are we? Well, you-know-who won't be happy with that."
The person named Wormtail snarled, and said
"Don't think you know my master. He only chose you for this task because you snivelled up to him and told him about this marvellous plan of yours. How do you know that this will work?"
"Because, Wormy dear, I know the minds of these students. I've spent time with them…"
"Only a day or two, idiot." Wormtail muttered.
"Nevertheless, I've spent more time with them than anyone else in our association. Well, more time than anyone trustworthy. I've dined with them, and I have watched them. I know that Harry Potter cares deeply about this girl, and I know they're romantically involved."
Sarah began to laugh uproariously.
"Maybe she's choking." Wormtail said
"I think she's crying." Said Westley. "Maybe she misses her love." Sarah laughed even harder.
"What if she's having a fit?" Wormtail said "She seems to be writhing around a lot. Maybe we should take off the blindfold" And he bent to do so.
Sarah squinted as sunlight burst into her eyes. She was in a secluded carriage, which looked as though it may almost be in first class. She lay on a couch, which ran along one side of the wall, and would have been separated from the rest of the carriage, if the curtain had not been pulled back by Westley and Wormtail.
As soon as she had grasped all of this information, Westley hit Wormtail in the back of the head, took the blindfold from him, and said
"Fool!" he began to put the blindfold back on Sarah. "We cannot let her see where we are. Nothing incriminating. Do you understand anything?"
Once again, Sarah's world was enveloped in black. Wormtail retreated to the other side of the carriage, muttering something like
"Your mother's a fragging Aardvark…" or was it Wagga wagga?
"Now you just stay here dearie." Westley said, stroking her hair. Sarah shuddered and pulled away from him. "I'll be back for you soon enough."
Sarah had to think even faster now. A way to escape from whoever this you-know-who was.
'Is he that guy who must not be named that was after Harry so many years ago?' Sarah wondered. (She knew, sort of, who he was; because in chapter 10 the twins told her… remember?)
Sarah would have continued these thoughts, if not for the fact that she realised the train was slowing down. She felt herself being levitated into the air and placed in some kind of box. After hearing several clicks over her head, she concluded that she had been locked in a trunk.
'Brilliant. Now what?' She thought.
WHAT WILL SARAH DO NOW?!?!?!?!
Jareth paced impatiently in Dumbledore's office. Hoggle and Didymus had sat themselves in chairs near the fire, and Ludo stood in a corner of the room. On the other side of the room stood Harry, who had his arms around a tearful Hermione.
Dumbledore sat behind his desk, McGonagall on one side, Snape kneeling in front of the fire.
"Where the hell is she, Alfred?" Jareth cried suddenly, slamming his fists down on the head masters desk
"Now Professor Sidhe, we are trying to figure that out as we speak." Said McGonagall, who was concentrating hard. She had recently begun a scrying spell, using a glass bowl filled with crystal clear water, but was having no luck. The bowl was filled with grey cloud, which was much the same effect that Snape's spell was having.
"Professor Dumbledore, we are having no luck. There is no sign of the girl." McGonagall said quietly to him. Sadly, Jareth heard it
"Search harder, God Dammit!" he smashed his fists down again
"Hast thou no word from my lady?" Didymus asked
"Of course not you nincompoop" Jareth snarled
"As far as we know, Sarah could have disappeared off the face of the earth." Hoggle said sadly
"Sawah Fwend." Ludo said.
"Oh Harry, what if something's happened to her?" Hermione moaned
"Now dear, I'm sure we'll find her." Dumbledore said, though he sounded very unsure of himself.
"She is not dead you fools" Jareth yelled, glaring at them. "I refuse to sit around here moping while the woman I love is missing." And with a flick of his cape, disappeared.
"Did my liege just say that he loved… my lady?" Didymus said in disbelief.
OH MY GOD… I THINK I'M GOING TO KEEP GOING WITH THIS CHAPTER…YAY!!!
Sarah was tossed and turned as she was thrown around in the trunk. She thought she had finally worked out why she was there. To lure Harry into the hands of Mouldy-wort or whoever, some master or another, so that he could try to kill him… again.
'And probably fail…' She thought, smirking at the mistake Westley had made. 'Me and Harry, involved? Sure, and Hermione's going to marry Ron.' She tried to resist the temptation to laugh again. 'I think I'm suffering from a large state of shock…' She thought happily. Of course, she was interrupted, when the lid was suddenly lifted off the top of the trunk, which Sarah only noticed because it suddenly became a lot colder.
She was levitated out again, and was left standing in the centre of the room.
"Remove the blindfold Wormtail." A thin and whispery voice said.
When Sarah's blindfold was removed, she saw only small amounts of sunlight streaming through the slits in the wooden planks nailed over the windows. The rest of the room was almost completely pitch black, save for the small fire crackling in the fireplace.
Sarah looked towards where the voice had come from. An extremely tall man in black robes sat in an armchair, a large snake draped over his shoulder. His skin was almost completely white; his nose looked squashed into his face, with tiny slits for nostrils. His eyes were pale and sunken, his fingers thin and delicate almost. In his right hand he hand a slim black wand, which, though he looked relaxed, Sarah was sure he would, and could, use easily and quickly.
"Welcome Miss Williams. Take a seat." He said, emphasising his S's slightly, making him sound snake like. Sarah, still wearing her gag and unable to speak, shook her head.
"No?" He said. "Well, I think you should." He raised his wand and said "imperio" Sarah, try as she might, was forced into a sitting position, and sweating from the strain her attempts at resistance had brought on.
"Now, I hope this shows you that when I say something, you do it. Is that clear?"
Sarah didn't reply. Even if she hadn't been gagged, she wouldn't have replied. Instead, she merely stared into his eyes, her face expressionless.
"Maybe it's time you learnt some discipline." He said, holding his wand before crying
"Crucio!"
OH MAN, IT JUST KEEPS GOING AND GOING AND GOING! MAYBE I SHOULD SLEEP SOON… IT IS 1:30…
Jareth sat alone atop the roof of the owlery. Not feeling the cold, he was not bothered by the wind, and sat staring intently into a crystal ball.
"Where is she?" he whispered, repeating it like a mantra. He stared into the depths, and slowly a picture began to form…
Sarah lay on the floor, gagged and bound, writhing in pain.
"No!" He whispered. "NO!" He screamed, and threw the crystal ball away to rid himself of the image. If he had watched closely, he would have seen the people inside the ball look around, for they had heard him
Jareth conjured another crystal.
"Show me where she is!" He commanded. Grey dust swirled inside, then slowly formed to show a mansion. "Take me there." He whispered, throwing the crystal into the air…
AUTHOR'S NOTE FOR A VERY LONG CHAPTER…
Hey everyone! It's five to two! And I stayed up late to write you this… and to watch the final episode of the Vicar of Dibley, cos sexy sexy Mr Thornton/Richard Armitage/Harry/ Harry Thornton (as I call him) is the one who the Vicar… well, I don't know if you want me to spoil the ending for you, so I won't
But anyways
He's super duper sexy, and everyone should watch North and South, cos its cool.
This is him, bringing sexy back… My God... I cannot believe it but... yes, yes! I am SQUEEEing over Richard Armitage... almost as hot as Dizzle Bizzle, eh?
This chapter was super long, cos I felt like I couldn't just leave you hanging… though I kinda did cos my friend wants me to watch the proposal scene… Ok, watched it… laughed uproariously… Ok now! Back to basics… Anyways, probs new chappy tomorrow… although I did buy the box set for Saiyuki reload, which I have to watch in subtitles because they took David matranga off thevoice of Sano wails in pain But probs more SJ stuff next chapter… And if y'all wanted my myspace again, co sthe last one was WRONG! Its… little(underscore)lottie(underscore)1 at hotmail dot com… cos it edited out the underscores… Have a lovely evening Your extremely sleepy Queen… PS! WC 2,018Words WAYYYY over the limit, eh?