Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my ideas, thanks.

Sarah's mind was reeling. She couldn't believe what Hoggle had just told her, and that was saying a lot! Over the past 5 years, she and Hoggle talked about everything together. He told her bizarre, unbelievable stories about all the different creatures in the Labyrinth, except for the King. No matter how much Sarah nagged, pleaded, or threatened Hoggle, he never gave any hint as to what the King was or what he was up to right now. Growing up after her return from the Labyrinth hadn't been an easy transition and Hoggle had been with her the entire journey. He'd comforted her when she cried because the popular kids at school bullied her for having her head stuck in the clouds, he cheered her up and kept her awake when she needed to pull all nighters, and he was always there after a nasty break up or a date gone wrong. He'd seen her whole life and this entire time, he'd never revealed any secrets of his own.

Hoggle told her everything her knew about the wizarding world, which was a decent amount. The fact that there was a whole secret society of wizards and witches out there living side by side with normal people like her blew her mind. The biggest wizarding population, according to Hoggle, was in Salem, Massachusetts. She laughed out loud at that piece of information. But then why didn't the witches leave after the witch hunt? She asked him. He'd snorted and gave her a look like it should've been obvious. If they were real witches, and some of them had been, they would have had no problem faking their deaths, especially since the muggles (non-magical people, he explained) didn't know the faintest thing about magic and often mistook random accidents for it.

He also told her a little about Harry Potter. He only knew his name, he admitted, because Jareth had laughed for days at how such a powerful dark wizard had been defeated by a mere baby, the very thing Jareth took from wishers. Hoggle only knew about wizarding societies and how they worked in relation to their muggle counterparts. He'd never paid attention to the actual events happening Aboveground, though now he wished he had.

She wondered what Harry Potter could possibly want with her. Hoggle said the Underground and other fae rarely got involved with Aboveground incidents, unless they were already living Aboveground. But generally speaking, fae on both ends tried to avoid coming in contact with each other for various reasons. Maybe he needed a place to hide, she mused. Or perhaps they wanted to know about her trip to the Underground. If that was the case, she thought, they'd have better luck trying to get Ludo to eat rocks than get her to talk. The entire trip had been a nightmare she wasn't eager to repeat.

Snapping back to reality, she looked to her right to find Hoggle staring at her uncertainly. "Sarah?" he asked.

"So what should I do now?" She ignored the unspoken question in his tone and got up from the bed.

"Maybe you could send a reply and find out what Harry Potter wants," he suggested hopefully. She glanced at the owl on her desk and winced.

"I guess so. Anything to get rid of the owl; it's eating my paper."

Back in Shell Cottage, Harry, Hermione and Ron sat at the kitchen table picking at their breakfast. It was the third day since they'd sent Hedwig out with a letter to Sarah Williams, and if wasn't back by tonight, they'd have no choice but to look for another option. They couldn't afford to waste any more time trying to track down somebody who may or may not still be alive.

Harry poked at his chocolate chip pancakes. They were torn to bits and scattered all over his plate, the chocolate smearing everything. It represented the state of the wizarding world, he thought. Both sides were covered in chocolate flavored doubts, the holes from his fork representing deaths that tore the pancakes apart into little bits, no longer whole. He didn't feel so hungry anymore. Standing up to bring his plate to the sink, he glanced out the window for the fiftieth time that morning and saw a blur of white heading this way.

"Ron! Hermione! It's Hedwig!" he cried, dropping his plate and running out to meet her.

"Blimey, did she just crash into the window?" Ron asked, alarmed.

Hedwig was dead tired. It took the average owl 2 days to fly one way from Britain to America; she'd just flown both ways in that time. Once she caught sight of the cottage, she allowed herself to slow down just a little bit. Her wings were lead and the urge to groom them was almost impossible to resist, but resist she did because Hedwig knew it was important to get back as soon as possible. Her master didn't know Sarah Williams lived so far away, and would assume that something had gone wrong if she wasn't back soon. As she drew closer and closer, she found it impossible to stop in time and ended up crashing into the window and knocking herself unconscious. This was perfectly fine for her, she decided, since she would've fallen asleep the moment she touched the ground anyways.

Harry ran out front in a panic. He was reminded of fifth year, when Hedwig had come back with a broken wing and prayed this wasn't a repeat of that incident.

"Is she alright?" asked Hermione as they caught up with him. He nodded.

"Yeah, she looks fine. Doesn't seem like she hit the glass very hard," Harry replied. Ron pointed at her leg. "

And look, she's got a reply!"

All three crouched in the grass around Hedwig's body as Harry gently lifted her leg and untied the letter. He read aloud:

"131B Hallow Road, Green Valley, California. Come any time today.—Sarah Williams"

Ron blinked in surprise. "What, that's it then? Just an address? And where's California? I've never heard of that city before!"

Hermione's and Harry's eyes widened as they recognized the name. California. Sarah Williams was American.

AN: Hi! I've revised this and the first chapter if you haven't noticed. Moved some events up I think, because I just didn't like how the story was flowing. It seemed kind of boring and awkward to me. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!