What's Said, Is Said
Disclaimer: This is the last chapter, do we really need to say it? "Nowhere man" belongs to its writers, performers and producers.
Chapter 45: Nowhere Man
The trial of Severus Snape really was very anti-climatic in that the potions master didn't offer that much of a defense. With the goblins handling his case, many on the wizengamot felt they'd rather be doing something else than dealing with the ruthless little buggers. It just wasn't wise to anger the ones who held your gold in trust!
The defense, after a brief opening statement, pointed out three very key points. One: Snape was not wearing the dark mark, which everyone knew was impossible to remove. Two: Albus Dumbledore had vouched for the man and kept him under virtual house arrest for years at Hogwarts. Surely, in that time period, the trials and tribulations of teaching and dealing with hormonal teenagers should count as time served? Severus Snape had further redeemed himself when Albus forced him to become a spy for the light in a time of darkness and war, in itself a far more dangerous fate than prison.
Third: Snape it would seem had won the respect of the goblins-to the point where they gave him the rarely bestowed title of 'Goblin Friend.' Few wizards had ever earned that title.
While no one was sure how he had earned said title, they all knew that as a 'Goblin Friend' Severus was considered to be an honorary Goblin and as such a citizen of their world. He'd actually earned it when he'd been taken as a Bardic Apprentice, but that fact was as yet unknown. His vows as a bard were to serve magic. Thus the goblins, as magical beings, were duty bound to help this fledgling bard in anyway possible.
"We, the Wizengamot," intoned a solemn Madam Bones as she read off the final decision, "find that Master Severus Tobias Snape, Potions Master, guilty as charged for being a follower of the Dark Lord known as Lord Voldemort. However, due to mitigating circumstances, as proven by admitted testimony, we agree that Master Snape has served in the First War against said Dark Lord by being a spy for the Light. Therefore, when he willingly re-entered the service of said Dark Lord to spy once again, we find his actions both brave and commendable. However, he did in fact commit crimes in his service as a spy, for which he will be held accountable. It is therefore our judgment that he is guilty of said crimes. For this reason we, the Wizengamot, choose not to return him to the custody of Albus Dumbledore, as was done previously.
Master Snape's teaching record speaks for itself. He is not an accredited teacher, nor does he have the patience or desire to teach children. It is therefore our opinion that Severus Snape has no business teaching children the fine and delicate art of brewing."
Albus stood to protest. He wanted Severus back at Hogwarts! It would be impossible to find another Potions Master willing to teach for the pittance he paid Severus. He needed the man's skills!
Madam Bones held up her hand to forestall the aged wizard. "It is the unanimous vote of the Wizengamot that Master Severus Snape is to spend five to ten years as a potions' brewer for St. Mungos, where he will repay the community for his crimes and poor service in teaching. If by chance, Master Snape invents any break-through potions during this time, they will be patented to him with shares of the profits going to St. Mungos. He will report to the Head of the Potions Research Department, and the goblins, for quarterly reviews on his conduct, potion records and any problems that may arise during this time period.
He can be paroled after five years for good conduct. If he fails to meet the standards set for his conduct, then he has to serve the full ten years. This is the judgment of the Wizengamot." Her last words were followed by the bang of her gavel, putting 'finished' to this session of the Wizengamot.
Albus Dumbledore covered his face with his hands, defeat in every line of his weary body.
0o0o0o0
Severus leaned back against his seat in Albus' office at Hogwarts. He had come to clean out his rooms and to give his successor his lesson plans, for what they were worth. The Wizengamot was right about one thing – he was a piss poor instructor and he knew it. Most research oriented Potions Masters were, however, one thing could be said in his favor, in all the years he had been teaching not one student had died under his watch. He did have some close calls though, mostly since Potter and Longbottom had entered Hogwarts.
"Albus! If you would just stop and listen for a moment," Severus snarked, pulling out a bit of parchment. "I am not returning and there is nothing you can do about it. I want to tell you I know where Potter is."
Albus ranted on as he was writing, only to rip the parchment with his quill when Severus' words finally sank in. "What?" He looked up, hope dawning in his blue eyes.
Severus smirked as he held up the parchment. "if you would call these people to your office? I really do not wish to repeat myself."
Albus took the list and saw it was all of Harry's friends. "I'll do it right away, yes, yes, my boy. . ."
With a snap of his fingers the Headmaster summoned an Elf and commanded it to find everyone on the list and send them to his office.
An hour later, Albus' office was full of Order Members and Harry's school friends. The noise level was horrendous, everyone was demanding to know what was going on and what was about. Most vocal was the strident voice of Molly Weasley.
Severus stood back in the shadows with a smirk on his face until Albus got everyone quiet.
"Severus. Care to explain?" The aged Wizard queried with a twinkle in his eyes once more.
Severus stepped forward out of the shadows as another figure stepped out from behind him. It was a short, skinny young man with messy black hair and glasses.
"HARRY!" Molly shrieked.
"Hi guys!" Harry said, giving everyone a slight wave of his fingers. He was immediately engulfed in several embraces, not the least of which was Molly's patented 'Weasley hug'.
"I did not bring him here for you to smother him to death," Snape snarked as he sent stinging hexes at those who refused to let go.
"Where have you been, my boy?" Albus asked. "What happened to you? Why have you stayed away from us for so long?"
Harry shrugged. "Hermione?"
Hermione sniffled, "Yes Harry?"
"What do you know about the Goblin King?" Harry looked to his friend for an answer.
"Harry," Albus started to say, "The Goblin Nation doesn't have a king."
Harry smiled and shrugged. "I didn't ask that. I asked about the Goblin King, an entirely different matter."
The bushy haired witch frowned, "He's right, the Goblin nation doesn't have a king, per se. You must mean the mythical being who supposedly steals babies, turns milk sour and sends nightmares to naughty children?" She scoffed.
"He's a myth. A boogie man to scare Wizarding children," Neville piped in.
"But you must admit, he does look yummy in tights!" Luna murmured dreamily.
Harry chuckled. "Hermione, did you ever see "The Labyrinth" with David Bowie?"
Hermione gave a slight nod, a perplexed frown on her face.
"What if I told you it was based on a true event? What if I told you that my cousin watched it with some friends? And since my cousin knew that magic was real, he decided to see if the Goblin King would take me away?"
"Harry! How did you escape?" Hermione screeched.
Harry laughed. "Dudley didn't just wish me away, he wished I had never come there as a baby. And would you believe it, The Goblin King complied! In fact, he re-arranged time and took me away as an infant."
Albus sputtered disbelievingly. "That was very dangerous, my boy. Time traveling is forbidden by the ministry. . ."
Harry smiled. " You try to tell an Immortal Being such as the Goblin King that he may not, 're-order time'! I was raised in a loving home with two parents and siblings. I finally lived the life I was meant to have before you interfered, old man."
'Harry manners!" Molly spat shrilly.
Shaking his head, Harry continued. "When the paradox came full circle, Dudley still refused to run the Labyrinth and wanted his dreams instead of me. Dudders just forgot, some dreams have consequences. He's now at St. Brutus' School for Criminal Boys, the same place my relatives always told everyone I went. And Me? I got my dream of a loving family and a happy childhood."
"Well, you are back now, my boy," Albus said with a grandfatherly smile. "We have missed you."
"If you say so, old man," Harry said, looking up at Severus with a smirk. "I see nothing's changed Sev, pay up."
"So you mean to say, while we were worrying about you, going crazy trying to find you, you were safe and sound at Gringotts this whole time?" Ron snarled. "You inconsiderate git! Always got to have the attention, don't you?"
Harry shook his head and with a wave of his hand, the glamour fell away. Garion Williams stood in his place, dressed in the traditional garb of a Master Bard.
"The Goblin King and his Lady gave me a home. While I was growing up, they discovered I had a hidden talent. They found that, with a little training, I was able to become a Bard. A True Bard, the first since the days of Taliesin. The Ancient Majicks responded to my call, after the blocks on me were removed." Garion stared briefly at Albus, who had the grace to blush.
The pure-bloods in the room straightened. Blocks on his magic?
"But Bards are a myth," Hermione started to say.
"To harm a Bard is to bring down the wrath of all the Magical Realms upon your head," Neville whispered in awe. "It is said that Bards can manipulate magic in its purest form."
Garion smiled as he hopped up unto Albus' desk. "And if the Headmaster hadn't interfered with my life, he would've known the power within me, 'the power the Dark Lord knows not', was something that hadn't been seen in well over two thousand years. But then, we all know that Albus Dumbledore likes to play god with people's lives and ignore what doesn't fit into his plans." Garion gave a flick of his wrist and his guitar appeared.
" This one's for you, Headmaster-"
"He's a real nowhere man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man,the world is at your command!"
A small whirl of magic started to form in front of the desk. Everyone began to back away as the spinning vortex grew in size and intensity. Garion smiled and continued his song.
"He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Nowhere Man, don't worry,
Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else
lends you a hand!"
Severus stopped several from drawing their wands. "Don't. This is magic in its purest form. Attack it at your peril. Bellatrix learned the hard way."
"He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody!"
Garion didn't banish the cyclone of pulsating colors that was pushing everyone to the walls as it filled the office.
"Magic is magic," he explained as the last of the music died. "As you can see it has no dark or light side. It is a wizard's intent that forces magic to be either light or dark. What you see here is what is left over from Wizards' and Witches' wasteful use of magic."
"Potter!" snarled Alastor Moody. "Get rid of that. Now! It's dangerous to mess with raw magic!"
"It is? Really?" Garion snarked sarcastically as he strummed a chord on his guitar causing the cyclone to move to the window and outside. It rose up into the night sky only to dissipate into the ground in a shower of sparkling light.
"Well done, my son," came a cultured voice from the shadows, as a wild blonde-haired man in black leather and a feather cloak stepped forth into the room.
Several wands pointed at the stranger. The mysterious figure gazed at the threatening wands and leered, displaying rather sharply pointed teeth. Albus recognized him from Riddle Manor.
"Can we help you? Uhmm. . ." Albus asked, fishing for a name.
"You're him! You're the Goblin King," Hermione exclaimed in stunned realization.
Garion and Jareth grinned as several of the purebloods stepped back in horror.
Luna Lovegood smiled her dreamy smile and dropped into a deep, elegant curtsy. "Your Majesty," she murmured.
Albus fell back into his chair in shock. Here was the reason all his plans had failed! Everyone, including him, could feel the power radiating off this Ruler of Nightmares.
Jareth stalked closer to the aged wizard's desk as many of the Order's wands tracked him. "I should throw you into the Bog and leave you there. But I have a much better plan."
"What are you planning to do?" Moody demanded,
"You're outnumbered here!" Suddenly, the room was filled with the sounds of twittering laughter.
Jareth smirked, raising one eyebrow, and conjured a crystal. "It's a shame that no one here will remember, but then, I can be cruel. . ."
In the distance, a clock chimed thirteen times, accentuating the sound of a crystal shattering.
" Time is up. Are you ready to come home, my son?" Jareth smiled proudly at Garion.
Garion nodded, as he hopped off the desk and returned to his father's side. "Yes, sir. What did you do to Dumbledore?"
Jareth grinned with a feral smile as they stepped towards the shadows to go back to the Labyrinth and home. "He may be the Headmaster here, and a powerful wizard with many titles to his credit, my son, but dreams are my domain. He will never enjoy a peaceful night for the rest of his life." They looked back at the wizards over their shoulders.
"In his dreams he will live through your original childhood. All of the grief, sorrow and pain. . . All of the yearning for family and love. He will learn that justifying his actions for the 'Greater Good' may be what's good for the many, but very wrong for the individual. And when you come right down to it, my son, the many are but individuals themselves."
"Harry?" Hermione asked, looking shocked at Jareth's words. "What about your education?"
Garion smiled. "Sweet maiden, This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee! "
"Do not worry for my son." The Goblin King told her. "His task has been appointed to him by the Ancient Magicks. A new task lays before him and it is not within your powers to gainsay it. After all you threw him away, why do you care?"
"But we didn't mean it. . . " Hermione sputtered as the two men turned away, into the shadows that beckoned them. The Order members caught the echo of the younger mans parting words.
Garion laughed. "What's Said is Said, right father?"
0o0o0o0
This is it. The end. Amazing isn't it, we finally finished it!
The next chapter is a reference page of all the songs and quotes used in this story. You can skip it if you want.
As for a sequel, several one shots/short stories are in the works. Garion isn't gone for good. He has a lot to do.
The quote is from: Hamlet, act 1 scene 3
Until next time. -GF and the Frau