HP the Gryffindor Heir of the Labyrinth

Rina Bollyqueen 420

Return, Anger, and Facing Reality

The flash that appeared in the great hall was dazzling. Pity no one was there to see it, thought Jareth. Sarah sighed as she appeared in a similar fashion beside him.

"Where is everyone?" she asked. Jareth rolled his eyes.

"It appears that we were away longer than we believed Sarah," he remarked. "Albus must have sent all the students to their dorms." Sarah moaned.

"Oh poor Harry," she groaned. "He probably thinks that Tom killed us."

"The boy is already depressed as it is. We must go immediately to Albus and inform him of what has happened. Then we must talk to Harry about the ritual. The sooner we complete it, the sooner he comes into his powers." Sarah nodded in agreement.

"It's not fair that he has to fight his battles so young."

"I know dear," he replied. "Let's get going."

Harry was angry. No, scratch that. He was furious. It had happened again! Again Voldemort had taken away his one chance at having a family. First his parents, then Sirius and now, his grandparents. He was shaking with a silent rage. A rage that neither Ron or Hermione had ever seen before. He was still. They watched him cautiously, as if he'd explode any second. Although outwardly, he was the picture of calm, they could see it in his eyes that he was furious. His emerald eyes were aflame. Although he was only 17, he looked like someone who had been through the wars, and in a way, he had. No les than six times, he had faced the most feared wizard of the century and lived to tell the tale.

"This is the last time," he said. His deep voice, cutting through the silence like a sharp knife, startling his two close friends. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other nervously. Not even Hermione knew how to handle the situation. "He's going to pay," he stated. His usually warm voice, sounded harsh and cold. Ginny, who was coming down the stairs of the common room, froze at the sound of it. "If anything happens to either of them . . ." He let the sentence trail off. Leaving his friends to think about the implications. Ron and Hermione shuddered at the coldness in his voice.

"They'll be okay Harry," said Ginny softly as she walked across the room. Harry sprung off the chair and spun around to face her. The expression of pure rage was on his face. Anyone else would have wisely turned around and walked away. Ginny strode forward.

"Yeah?" he asked. "How would you know? How do you know that he isn't torturing them right now? How do you know that they're no lying dead? Their faces frozen in shock from the killing curse?" He grabbed her arm roughly. "How do you know? You don't know!" He was yelling at her. "How do you know that he won't come and finish you three off next? What about Colin, Luna and Sapna? He could come here and finish you off in a second! He could be making his way here right now to kill me! Heck I could be dead within the next hour!" That was the final straw for Ginny. She was sick of his self-pity, his guilt and his stupid hero complex. The sound of the 'SLAP!' echoed in the common room.

"Shut up!" she screamed at him. "Just shut up!" Harry turned his face back toward the angry girl. He glared at her. "What the hell is your problem! Sarah and Jareth will be fine! Our magic doesn't affect them! Or have you forgotten that? And don't you DARE think about dying Harry James Potter! What's happened has happened," she stated more calmly. "And there's nothing you can do to change that. You can't stop what fate has planned. Yes, you could die. But you could die taking that bastard with you. Yes we could all be picked off one by one. That's a fact that we all have to deal with here. We could die. We have to someday. Death is a part of life. We deal with it and move on. You however seem to think that everyone dies in this war because of you. Newsflash buster! People died in this war before you were born! Like my uncles Gideon and Fabien! Was that your fault too? No it was Voldemorts!" Ron stared at his little sister, who scarily resembled their mother. Hermione was gob smacked at her guts. "Voldemorts been killing long before the prophecy was made! So get over this stupid guilt trip that you have going! If I'm going to die in this war, let me tell you one thing Harry. I'm going to die fighting! So are Ron and Hermione! Us three are willing to fight beside you, even at the cost of our lives. It's our choice that we fight, just like everybody else. Sirius died fighting, because that's what he wanted! It's not your fault and never has been! So get you finger out of your arse, stop being a scared little boy and grow up to be the man that you're destined to be!" With that she pulled her arm away from him and stormed off upstairs.

"Bloody Hell!" exclaimed Ron in awe of his sister. Hermione was smiling. About time somebody beat some sense into Harry.

"She's right you know Harry," stated Hermione. Harry turned around to face her.

"What? That I'm a scared little boy?" he spat out angrily.

"No," she said shaking her head. "That it's not your fault. What's happened has happened and you can't change that. You can't change what's going to happen either, but you can change the way it happens. She's also right about Ron and I being with you all the way. To the end."

"Yeah, mate. You're never getting rid of us! Hey even if we die, we'll come back as ghosts to keep you company!" he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Harry cracked a small smile at it, even though it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, but the thought of losing you guys, it's too painful to think about. You're like the brother and sister I've never had. You're the closest thing to family I've had." Hermione strode over and pulled him into a bear hug.

"We love you too Harry, even if you're too afraid to say it." Ron walked over and Hermione pulled him into the hug as well. The trio stayed like that for a few moments, in a comforting silence.

"Er, Mione," said Ron. "You're not saying that I'm your brother too, are you?" Immediately earning himself a smack up-side the head, causing Harry to laugh. "Oy, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"For being a prat," replied Hermione, with a small smile. At least he was her prat.

Ginny stormed to her room, angry at Harry for being such an idiot. Sure he had a lot on his plate, but the guilt trips and self pity were beginning to get on her nerves. She slumped down on her bed, confused. Harry had been so cold down in the common room. She let out a chuckle. She still couldn't believe that she had slapped the boy who she'd kissed and hour ago. But he did deserve it, she told herself. Sighing she fell back on her bed. She hoped that Jareth and Sarah were okay. It had been an hour since their disappearance. Closing her eyes she tried to clear her thoughts, only to be interrupted by the sound of quiet sobs. Sitting up she noticed her Indian friend curled up in a foetal position on her own bed. Getting up she walked across the room and put a hand on her shoulder, startling the crying girl.

"Oh Ginny," Sapna said, quickly wiping away her tears. "I didn't notice you."

"That's obvious," she replied. "Are you okay?" Sapna scoffed, looking down at the clothes she'd worn to the ball.

"Do I look okay?" Ginny said nothing. "I look a complete mess. I can't sleep, I don't feel hungry, I'm hating myself right now and I'm dreading the future that's in store for me." She stood up and paced around the room. She turned and faced Ginny. "It's just hit me," she said. "That I will never be happy. I'm marrying a man who hates me at this point in time. In the future he will completely despise me for taking away his chance at happiness. I'm ruining his life Gin!" she cried. "And I can't stand it! I can't stand the fact that he'll hate me forever! Not when I love him so much," she whispered. Ginny got up and embraced the distraught girl. Sapna sobbed on her shoulders.

"It'll be okay," she assured. Sapna shook her head and looked her friend in the eyes.

"It will never be okay Ginny," she whispered. "At the ball I met someone, someone who I liked very much and who liked me." Ginny looked at her in surprise. "For a moment I felt like I was on top of the world. We got on so well. And as I left him standing there, I realised that I would never see him again. Heck I don't even know who he is, what he looks like, or even his name. But those few moments I spent with him, made me truly happy." Tears were sparkling in her eyes as she talked. "I realised that I would never feel like that with Rahul, and he would never feel that way about me. I won't have the kind of love that they show in those stupid Bollywood films." This caused Ginny's eyes to widen. Sapna must be really hurting to insult the film industry of her country. "It hurts. Knowing that I'm never going to be able to do those things I've dreamed of. It really hurts." Ginny hugged her distraught friend again, letting her cry it out. Ginny knew that she would hate to be in her situation. Ginny led her over to the bed and lay her down as she sobbed. She sat down beside her and put the covers over Sapna as she sobbed herself to sleep. Ginny took out her wand and performed a cleaning spell on her, and transfigured Sapna's clothes from the ball into pyjamas. She looked at her sleeping friend. Even in her sleep she looked depressed. Sighing she went to her own bed performing the same spells on herself that she had on Sapna and fell into a deep sleep.

Jareth and Sarah arrived at the headmasters office and were not surprised to find him awake, his eyes twinkling as he saw them enter.

"Nice to see that you arrived back safely," he said. "I trust that Tom was surprised to see that you were immune to our magic."

"Indeed he was Albus," stated Jareth with a small smirk. "Even more surprised when he realised that Sarah was originally a muggle-born witch." The headmaster smiled at them knowingly.

"Now that you're back, let's discuss what happened whilst you were there. I believe he must have asked you to join him?" Sarah nodded. "And naturally you declined his offer," he stated.

"The bastard tried to kill us too," Sarah stated. "Of course we deflected the curse. Although he was furious because Jareth kept getting his name wrong and added to the fact that I was a muggle-born whom he had tried to bully at school…… well you could say that he was pissed off." Dumbledore nodded.

"We also want to discuss the fact that Harry should go through with the fey coming of age ritual as soon as possible," said Jareth. "The sooner we do that, the better."

"I understand. When should this ritual take place?" he asked.

"On the next full moon," said Sarah.

"The next one is in three weeks," supplied Dumbledore. "Do whatever is necessary to prepare for it and let me know if you need anything."

"We will Albus," said Jareth as he left the room.

"Oh and I do believe that it would be best if you checked in on Harry, just to assure him that you are well." Sarah smiled.

"That is where we were heading Albus," she replied as she left the room in a flash after her husband.