Author: Brandi Vincent Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Labyrinth nor any of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter characters. Yet I only own my own. But hey, I own this story.

+Chapter 4: The Creatures of Now+ Ron walked slowly down the dirt path, jumping at any sudden noise. 'Where am I, this time?' Ron thought, braking vines in half that were strewn across his way. He continued walking onwards, in pursuit to find something that might give him a hint on as where to go next. "Hey, dude!" A high pitched voice hollered from somewhere in the forest. "Uhh...pardon?" Ron called back, remembering what Hermione had taught him about manners in front of strangers. Well, somewhere in front of strangers. He only hoped Hermione was watching him right now from somewhere nearby, urging him onwards. He really did adore Hermione. It grew on him over the years. She was just so intelligent and pretty. And obviously Harry didn't show the same attractions. He was too occupied on Cho Chang; yet very recently, his attention was focusing more on Ginny. Even though Harry is his best friend and all, he didn't feel comfortable with that. After all, Ginny is his little sister. "Pardon? What's that?" Another thing called from the opposite said of the path. "Maybe some sort of cheese!" The other thing replied, as loud laughs erupted from all over. The accents sounded more Jamaican than British. ".... Do you know the way out of the labyrinth?" Ron asked, the first question that popped into his mind was that, which made the most sense. "You just missed it! You left the path that would lead you onwards!" Something else cackled. Ron balled his fists tightly. 'Why did I follow a mysterious glass ball, anyway? Hermione is right. Sometimes I can be quite dense.' Ron thought, getting more and more pissed off by the minute. He began to turn around, in hopes of returning to the smelly swamp. "Oops! Can't go back now!" Something said, roaring with laughter. "And why not?" Ron asked stubbornly, continuing down the dirt path. "Because." Something pink and orange jumped right in front of him, a big smirk growing across it's face. All of the medium sized creature's body had fur on it; except for it's face, hands, and feet. "We're in the way, now!" "Yes, in the way!" Another thing similar to it popped out, sniggering loudly with its ears furring ears twitching. "Get out of my way, then," Ron warned. These things didn't look very harmful. Well, when they didn't have an evil grin on. Which they did right when Ron said it. "But you haven't played our game, yet!" Another similar creature replied, jumping up from behind Ron. "What game?" Wagered Ron, becoming annoyed and sarcastic. "How do you play?" "Like this!" It popped off its large head and threw it to the other thing in front of Ron. "Yeah, like this!" The other thing that caught it's head said, popping off it's own head and throwing it to something else, as it bounced the other thing's head. "Ahahaha," Ron rolled his eyes, clenching his teeth, "I do not have time for this." He turned back around, away from the secret passageway, and down the dirt path again, pushing past a few monkey looking things as well. "Stop him!" Something yelled, running after Ron. "Hey, man, you can't quit until you finish!" Another yelled, running after Ron, too. Others yelled something as obnoxious, and ran after him. Ron caught onto this quickly, noticing the mob of pink and orange. "Stay away!" Ron screeched, breaking into a run. Another thing popped out in front of him, sticking out it's long, slimy tongue. Ron stopped suddenly, and did the only thing he could think of. He bent down and popped off it's head, then threw it off somewhere deep into the forest. "Hey, that's breaking the rules!" Something yelled from behind him. Ron broke into a run again, his chest feeling as though it were about to explode. "Maybe we should take off your head! Let's see if yours can come off!" Another yelled. Things kept on popping up in front of Ron, spooking him, until Ron would pop off its head and throw it into the opposite direction, again. Ron ran for his life. He didn't know these creatures could be such a threat to his head. [][][]Back with Draco[][][] "I hate this place! I hate this place! I HATE THIS PLACE!" Draco practically screamed, ready to rip out his hair from his scalp. "I almost had it before! That stupid thing got me lost...again!" Draco stalked into yet another dead-end, becoming more and more confused by the minute. "Does it ever stay the same?" He wanted to bash his fist into something solid, but the walls were now hedges, instead. He was beginning to go for the idea of just tearing through the hedges, when he had no other choice but to. Small, pink, and slimy things with huge teeth too big to be hidden inside their mouths attached to poles were bobbing up and down, from what Draco could see, over the hedges. Distant, muffled voices could be heard from below the poles. And he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach about how this would turn out...and what those things might be. He stood still for a moment, just watching the pink things bob up and down, turning closer towards him, until he could actually see what was holding them. Little midget like goblins in armor was holding them, with metal, spiky heads and a long silver nose. "Huh? What are you?" Was what Draco could make out of what the thing had asked. "Uhmm...me friend, you friend?" Draco replied, hoping he didn't sound too offending. Some of the things behind it scratched their heads and looked at one another, then returned to face Draco. "Get the stupid one!" The first one yelled, charging after him with its pole in front of it. He got the picture. Mainly, what he and Ron were doing, was getting chased by things they had no idea of what they were. But they didn't look friendly. Nothing really looked friendly and welcoming in that place. Well, except for the cute, fuzzy blue worm at the beginning of the labyrinth. "Why always me?" Draco huffed, running as fast as he could away from the...the...things. The leader was catching up, stabbing its pole towards Draco. It was so close, he could feel the hot air of the pink thing's breath through his robes. Draco sped up his speed, running faster than he ever had before. The things were beginning to fall behind quite a bit, which was a good sign on his part. He turned another sharp corner, then right again, and stopped in a small, boxed off area. The miniature things took off in all directions; splitting up and over all, away from Draco. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes tightly. 'Please let me wake up. Just let this be some long, crazy dream.' He wished silently in his head, sweat dripping off of his forehead. He really didn't like this. Probably if Harry saw him right then, he would laugh a little at first, but most likely couldn't help but have sympathy for the guy. Finally, once Draco was ready, he opened his eyes again, hoping to find something that would lead him out of this nightmare. Well, almost as well, two doors with knockers. There was one to his left that appeared to have a head of some goblin/pig, with long silver ears that had a wide ring going through each. The one to his right looked more like a big nosed goblin, with a similar ring stuck in its mouth; both made of silver. Draco stepped forward, curious to go through one. "Can.you two speak?" 'Smooth question, Draco,' he thought to himself, cringing a bit. "Excuse me? Speak up, lad!" The one to his left yelled, still looking sophisticated in its own way. Draco rolled his eyes. No use talking to him. "Which one of these doors leads to the Goblin King's castle?" Draco asked anyway. After all, he still was desperate. The one to his right mumbled something; which he couldn't make out. He walked towards it and pulled the ring out. "What did you say?" Draco asked a bit too rudely. "I said who are you?" It replied, just as sour. "I'm somebody who will beat your ass if you don't tell me which door to go through," Draco replied, rubbing his knuckles with his thumbs. "Too bad. We don't have one for you to kick," The one to his left said, apparently hearing that much. "I don't like your attitude, sonny," The right one replied, cackling hard to what the right one had just said. "Okay.then can you please tell me which one to go through?" Draco tried asking politely. Obviously trying to act aggressive wasn't going to help with these doorknockers. "How should we know? Haven't seen the back of this door in over a thousand years!" The right one cackled. "Fine. I'll just go through this one," Draco attempted to set the ring back in it's mouth, but to no avail. "Open up! I want to knock." "Mhm," it mumbled back, closing its mouth tightly. "Why me?" Draco rolled his eyes again then backed up. "Sorry." He high kicked the knocker's nose, forcing it to open its mouth for him to stuff back in. "And I take back the sorry part." He was about to knock on the door, when half way, he decided not to. "You know what, I think I won't. Who the hell knows what's behind there?" He turned back around and began to strut in the opposite direction, back to the open entryway. As he began to walk back, he saw a completely different creature. One word: spikes. All over it had metal spikes. It didn't look friendly. Then, right as Draco froze right in his spot, the thing growled and rolled itself into a big, spiky ball, ready to roll after him. As if it weren't bad enough, the goblins with the biting poles were back. Both the spiky ball and the goblins were at either side of him, as his only escape were the two doors behind him. "There, the stupid one!" The miniature goblin leader shouted, as all creatures charged at him. He couldn't help it. Draco screamed; but not some manly holler, it was high pitched. He quickly turned back around and sped towards the right door, knocked on it with the ring, and ran inside. He didn't care if the things were still after him, he ran. He ran and ran down a dirt path in some giant forest/jungle. He had no idea where he was going, as long as it wasn't back there with those.those.creatures. Though he didn't realize the door had slammed behind him once he had entered, stopping the creatures from following, but he still didn't notice. He RAN. [][][]Back with Ron[][][] 'Why are they still following me??' Ron thought, breathing harder than he ever had before, even harder than when he had noticed Hermione's chest in the cold wintertime with her robes that didn't seem very warm. "Leave me alone!" Ron yelled over his shoulder. The pink and orange monkey things just laughed like it was some hilarious practical joke. "You still haven't played our game!" One scratchy voice hollered. "Yeah, sore loser!" Another called, cracking up. Ron wasn't especially looking at where he was going, only on the path and to check if those creatures were still following. But besides that, he was only focusing on running. And supposing that was why he knocked into something else. He looked up quickly, hoping it wasn't one of those things. Worse. It was Draco. They had both fallen onto the ground; both shocked yet terrified. Ron just didn't have time for this. The things were drawling closer, and he didn't have much time left. "Run!" Was all he said, before standing back up quickly and speeding away. "I'm not going back there!" Draco shouted, standing up as well. Up ahead were the monkey things, swinging closer. His eyes boggled widely in terror, and turned around in a flash. "Yes I am! Wait up, Weasley!" They both ran down the dirt path, Draco having caught up with Ron. "Why didn't you tell me about those.. Things!" He huffed, chest pounding painfully. His butt ached, as well. "I told you run!" Ron replied, almost out of breath. They ran a little further, until they couldn't take it. "Let's tear through the trees, then maybe we might have a chance on losing them!" Ron huffed, his side throbbing dearly, feeling as though it might as well fall off. He felt like chopping it off instead, just to cry from something else. "Good idea!" Draco replied, chest pounding more than ever now. They both tore apart from the dirt path and pushed past the trees, deep into the forest. Screw the right way, they had to escape! But the monkey creatures didn't give up. It seemed to be like some twisted game to them. So Ron and Draco ran as fast as their weak legs could take them. They rushed past trees and dodged bushes, and at one point, Ron and Draco split up, until they found each other again. Ron was still ahead though, by far, with Draco trailing behind. Ron ran all of the way up to an edgy cliff, and that's where he stopped. He looked down, to only find a large spouting waterfall coming down from under the ground, and pouring into a quite large lake below. "Um, Draco? Dead end," Ron's voice quivered, looking over his shoulder. Draco broke apart from the forest and near the edge of the cliff, still running. "Not on my watch!" Draco shouted, running right up to the cliff and jumping; arms outstretched in front of him; body posed in a dive. Ron watched as Draco dived, too terrified to do it himself. He looked over his shoulder again. The things were jumping from the trees. Ron snapped his head downwards again, looking down to the large lake. "Looks like fun," Ron mumbled before jumping straight down. Not like Draco's talented position, just in one messy jump. "THE THIIINGS I DOOOO FOOOR HEEERMIOOONEEEE!!!" [][][]Back with Hermione and Jareth[][][] "What do you think?" Jareth whispered into Hermione's ear, showing her a miraculous site right when they reappeared into a different place. Hermione gasped. It was the most beautiful, enchanting garden she had ever set foot in. There were small deer like creatures prancing around, and tiny bunny like creatures hopping in the gardens. The gardens were full of decorative roses and black flowers that seemed to go on forever. It was full over evergreens, tasteful fruits, and a few willow trees here and there. But the most perfect affect of it all was the sunset in the horizon, and Jareth's honest face and features. "It's wonderful," Hermione breathed, spinning around on the tan brick platform. "I love it. I might as well spend half of my life reading here!" "Well, there's half of your life, what about eternity? Living in the Goblin City wouldn't be that bad. Especially since you would always look beautiful. You'll never age a day. Look at me? I still look young," Jareth replied as Hermione turned to face him. "Young and hansom," She grinned, bending down to pet some sort of bunny. Jareth smirked, looking around. "Perhaps you would like to see the kingdom, now?" "Certainly," she agreed, standing back up and dusting herself off. "Excellent," he snapped his fingers once more, right when Hermione scooped the bunny up in her hands. They appeared once more into a different place. This time a balcony; and below it was the Goblin City. Jareth looked below them, as Hermione cooed to her bunny. "Can I have it?" She asked out of no where, petting the soft black bunny. "Of course." "I'll call him Ron." Jareth cringed for a moment, then grinned again, returning to the Goblin City. "There it is, have a look." Hermione looked up from the black bunny and down towards the city. It looked like some town that seemed to be built back in the 1800's. Goblin women, men, and children walked around on the streets, looking happy even though goblins tended to look nasty and mean. They looked comfortable on where they were staying, like hobbits in Middle Earth, too afraid to actually leave beyond the castle walls. It looked pretty big, for a bunch of dirty looking goblins. "Nice, but you need to add more scenery. Then I'd be happy, and they'd be happy." "Scenery? These goblins have all they need! They wouldn't care for a bunch of flowers like you do." "It would make them happy," Hermione stepped towards Jareth before setting down her bunny; his black cape floating in the breeze, his tight black pants tightening. "And it would make me happy," she whispered in his ear this time, kissing his pale neck softly. "If I were to be your queen, I would like it if you made me happy." She left a trail of light kisses down the front of his neck, licking his chest lightly, feeling his six pack with her fingertips. "Then maybe I'd make you happy, too." She finally made eye contact with him, staring deeply into his lustful eyes. "You are dearly going to pay for this," he whispered with a smirk. "Really? Ron would never let me pay for anything," she pulled away grinning slyly up at his sneer. Ron. He had to have her forget him somehow. What did Ron have that Jareth didn't? Jareth thought of himself to be very appealing and charming. He growled softly as Hermione picked Ron back up in her arms, walking away with a smirk on her face. Only six more hours before she was his.

To Be Continued