Violet
I really, really want to say that I own these characters but I have no rights to anything :p
Now back to the main story (Sorry I took forever to update this story):
"Lucius!" Narcissa and Hermione yelled while pulling the wizard back with Draco's help.
"What is going on here?" Severus hissed at the small family and the enraged family patriarch. Lucius fixed his stormy grey eyes on his best friend and brother and Severus fought not to let the involuntary shudder from his burning look, show.
"That-that Fae," Lucius bit out, "imp-"
"Father," Draco harshly interrupted. "Uncle Sev," he politely tilted his head in his direction. "This is for Hermione to explain." Everyone turned to Hermione and she blushed. "When she feels ready," he hastily added. Hermione gave him a thankful glance. Severus rolled his eyes and held out his fist.
"Would anyone care to explain this?" He asked, opening his fist to show his palm and the still glowing tendrils of magic swirling above his hand. Lucius stopped his angry pacing and looked down at Severus's palm.
"You are part of our family," he said with a small quirk of his lips.
"Our magic bonded us just a few minutes earlier," Narcissa spoke up. "Meet your niece," she smiled at Hermione while giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Severus smirked and closed his palm around the magic.
"Yes, well, as much as I would like to stomp and yell like my big brute of a brother," Severus smirked at Lucius, and gave Hermione a knowing glance. "I shall endeavour to take my own revenge out on the Fae in my own subtle way." Everyone shuddered at the look he gave when he spoke of the Goblin King, and then he gave Hermione a softer, more gentle, gaze. "You need not be alone anymore. You have us now and we shall not let you go for anything," he whispered and laid a small kiss on her forehead.
"We have a busy day tomorrow," Severus said to everyone in the room, giving Lucius a pointed look. "I suggest we all get some rest," he said before sweeping out of the room with a 'goodnight' and a yawn.
O.o.O
"Order!" Kingsley Shacklebolt pounded his gavel, but was ignored. "ORDER!" He shouted, banging the wooden hammer harder on the flat wooden surface, effectively silencing the occupants of Courtroom Number 10. "Mister Pipper," he tried not to sneer at the over-pompous Head of the Ministry's Family Archives. "What leads you to believe this child was kidnapped?" He actually did sneer at the wizard this time. "Violet Craftsen's mother abandoned her by wishing her away and taking her dreams. The full Wizengamot has seen King Jareth III's memory of the event and have verified it with the obliviated mother of said child. Do you have proof of your accusations?" He asked condescendingly and sighed at the need to obliviate someone who had their memories taken away by a Fae, given back, and then taken away again by wizards. The wizard, Mister Pipper, huffed and sat heavily in his chair.
"Hem hem." Everyone tried not to groan at that interruption and openly glared and sneered at the disgraced toad. "I believe the 985 treaty should be invoked," Dolores Umbridge spoke up. The Order and Kingsley Shacklebolt tensed. Murmurs among the Wizengamot members filled in the tense silence.
"It is going to happen," Hermione whispered, holding tightly onto Jareth's hand.
"At least I don't have to fight Voldemort," Harry whispered back while watching Kingsley's personal secretary whisper a relaying message into his ear. Kingsley tensed before clearing his throat.
"There will be a ten minute recess before the verdict is given," he said, causing an uproar of disapproving voices among Wizengamot members. Kingsley gave his Senior Undersecretary, Amelia Bones, a pointed look before stepping down, followed by the Madame Bones.
"What is going on?" Ginny asked.
"Another ally," Ambry smiled at her brother. He smirked.
"To be expected," Lucius murmured to the group. "Mister Shacklebolt cannot resist being on the frontlines of a fight, whether verbal or physical."
"Everything is in order?" Hermione asked the large group.
"My goblins are seeing to the little things that may have been over-looked," Jareth reassured her and everyone else.
"My fairies are already thinking up interesting nightmares for the old toad," Ambry smirked. Everyone laughed and smirked at the sickly sweet smiling, nightmarish woman. She gave them a confused glance before choosing to ignore them. "Imagine having to live the rest of your life dreaming nothing but nightmares," she said softly, earning a shiver from the group.
"She deserves it," Harry muttered, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his hand where the words 'I Must Not Tell Lies' were still etched into his skin. The courtroom quieted when Kingsley Shacklebolt exited the chamber he had carefully warded, but instead of heading towards his place among the Wizengamot members, he strode up next to the Goblin King, shook his hand, and took the vacant seat next him. Amelia Bones gave Kingsley a wry smile before taking his previous place among the Wizengamot.
"As newly instated Minister of Magic-" The courtroom broke out into murmurs. The newly instated Minister, Madame Bones, used the gavel to bring the room into silence. "The majority vote of the Goblin Kingdom versus the Ministry Family Archives is as follows: The majority of the Wizengamot invoke the 985 B.C. Treaty instated by King Jareth II of the Goblin Kingdom and the British Ministry of Magic. King Jareth III is to release the minor Violet Craftsen into Ministry custody immediately."
"Do you have a plan?" Kingsley quietly asked the group.
"Whose side are you really on?" Harry asked the older wizard. Hermione elbowed him, but Kingsley chuckled anyway.
"I am first and foremost a member of the Order," he answered solemnly. "I already know that your magic is binding you to your laws and you cannot easily hand over the child," he said to Jareth.
"Everyone ready?" Ambry asked their group, watching as a few Aurors started making their way across the courtroom.
"Ready," Narcissa answered for everyone as their surroundings suddenly started swirling and fading. She held tighter onto her husband and the small bundle in her arms to regain her balance.
"A little warning next time," Hermione said with a green face while clinging onto Jareth. "I need the loo," she said before spinning and releasing the contents of her stomach all over the stone floor while Jareth held back her hair.
"Here you go." Severus handed her a purple potion. "Calming draught for your stomach," he said. Hermione thanked him and gratefully swallowed the bittersweet contents of the phial.
"Spinner!" Jareth called. A goblin as tall as the Goblin King's abdomen answered his call and bowed.
"Yes your majesty," the goblin answered.
"Lockdown effective immediately!" he ordered. "Emergency Call Blackguard! No one or anything is allowed in or out of Gringotts or any other passage into the aboveground." The Goblin scrambled to fulfil the order. Seconds later bells rang out above the castle and voices, feet, and hooves from various animals and people were heard as everyone hurried towards the castle gates. "Grumbly!" Jareth called another goblin. "Spread this out among the people," Jareth said, dropping a crystal to the stone floor and producing a tall pile of parchments.
Hermione picked one up and read aloud:
By order of King Jareth III
Emergency Call Blackguard is in effect. All citizens are to immediately take shelter and report any suspicious activity to a castle Senior Guard. All contact and any trading with the aboveground is to cease immediately or collaborators with said realm will face the Bog of Eternal Stench or will be subjected to an oubliette for ten years, depending on the severity of not complying with said Emergency.
Ambry frowned, "You have a subject to make an example of." Jareth growled and twisted his wrist, producing a crystal with a layout of his castle and Labyrinth.
"HOGGLE!" He yelled. He reached into the crystal with his other hand and began wrestling with something inside, slowly pulling out a wrestling dwarf. "I know my Emergency Call reached you!" Jareth growled and silently summoned a folded parchment from the dwarf's pocket. "Do you deny attempting to contact the aboveground?" He asked.
"No sir," the dwarf bit out.
"I have been putting up with your obstinacy for a long nine years," Jareth quietly growled, effectively gaining the attention of his subject. The dwarf stood still, looking up at him with wide frightened eyes. "Emergency Call Blackguard is the highest state of emergency my Kingdom has in effect and you willingly disobeyed," he hissed at the now trembling dwarf. "We are now in a state of war! Hoggle," he said authoritatively, "I, King Jareth III, sentence you to fifty years of living in the Bog of Eternal Stench!"
"NO!" Hoggle shouted. "Anything but that!"
"You dare talk back to me after almost giving our enemy a clear opening into the heart of our Kingdom!" Jareth shouted. "Hopper! Chowler!" Two goblins scrambled to answer the call. "To the Bog with him!" He ordered. The two goblins grinned while dragging off a struggling dwarf. "Please excuse me," he said to the quiet group before abruptly leaving his throne room.
"Let me show you all to the guest wings," Ambry spoke up. "Your possessions have already been placed and packed away into your rooms," she informed everyone.
"Ambry," Hermione spoke up after mostly everyone was escorted to their assigned rooms. "Where are our rooms?" She asked the smiling Fae woman. Severus, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco waited patiently for the Queen to answer.
"Your rooms have been set up in the Family wing," she answered with a wide smile.
"Pardo-" Lucius began heatedly, but was silenced by his wife's elbow painfully making contact with his ribcage and allowed the Fairy Queen to guide them away from the Guest wings. Hermione followed the chatting group, lost in her own thoughts, so she did not notice when the group took a turn down a narrow corridor, nor when they climbed up the set of stairs leading up towards another floor at the beginning of that corridor. She kept walking straight down one of the castles many wide corridors, not paying attention to the twists and turns that popped up from seemingly nowhere, so when she finally did notice the silence and attempted to retrace her steps, she ended up even more lost.
The last turn she took lead her to the end of a short corridor with only one door at the end. The door called to her, entranced her senses so she could not think of anything other than reaching for the knob and twisting it open. The hand that latched onto her wrist was an unwelcome distraction, but the voice that reached her ears was always welcome.
"What are you doing?" The voice asked. Hermione unwillingly tore her eyes away from the door to meet the mismatched eyes of her distraction. She blinked away the fog that filled her brain before answering.
"I don't know," she answered with a frown. Her distraction frowned at her words. "It was calling me," she said quietly and looked toward the door again, but her face was stopped with a warm hand on her cheek, stopping her from, again, becoming distracted by the door.
"Who am I?" Her distraction asked.
Hermione frowned and was silent for a few tense moments before answering, "Jareth." The fog in her brain cleared a little.
"Who are you?" He asked. She blinked up at him owlishly.
"Hermione," she answered after a few more moments.
"Hermione what?" He demanded lightly. She shook her head before answering.
"Hermione Jean Granger," she answered, holding her head in her palms. "What happened?" Hermione asked, feeling the beginnings of a bad headache before noticing the third member of their small group when he pushed a headache potion into her palm.
"You were about to open the door that leads to Nothing and Everything," Jareth answered.
"Nothing and Everything?" Hermione asked.
"I have read about that," Severus said thoughtfully.
"I advise you to stay away from that door Hermione," Jareth said tensely. "If the door called to you that strongly then it is best you avoid this corridor altogether." He held onto Hermione's wrist a little tighter, fearing what the outcome would have been, or would be, if she actually did open the door.
"Is there a reason I am affected so strongly?" She asked when she realised the two men were not as strongly affected by the door. She was just standing near it and was sorely tempted to look at it again, her fingers itched to reach for the doorknob and twist...
"Is there something you regret greatly?" Jareth asked softly.
"There are a lot of things I regret," Hermione answered sombrely.
"There is something that you hold above all those other small regrets," Jareth said knowingly. "Until you face that this door will continue to have a strong hold over you," he said after a few silent moments, noticing how she struggled to keep her attention on him and away from the door.
"I think it is best that we remove her from this corridor," Severus said lightly, also noticing her silent struggle to not let the door distract her.
O.o
The blond wizard smirked when the blond Fae disgracefully stumbled and fell, face first, into the flagstones in his throne room, and continued on his merry way towards the entrance to the King's gardens. Jareth growled at Lucius and conjured a crystal, throwing it at the wizard's back, and smirked at the pure white mink that ran in confused circles and squeaked in fright and confusion. Severus let out a hearty laugh and lifted Lucius's Jelly Leg Jinx from the Goblin King and conjured a cage for the mink and levitated it, and then Lucius the mink, into a laughing Narcissa's arms.
"Wonderful!" Narcissa breathed out between laughs. Jareth smirked at the witch and looked down at the now angry animal.
"I could not just stand by and not defend myself," he drawled. The mink huffed and turned its back on a smugly smirking King.
"Oh what a cute little ferret!" Hermione smiled at Lucius, reaching to stroke the animal between the bars of the cage when she was stopped by the growling mink and more hearty laughs. Jareth levitated the fuming wizard from the cage and turned him back into an angry blond wizard.
"I was not a ferret!" He growled at Hermione. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the livid wizard and promptly buried her face into his chest to cover her smile. "I know you are smiling," he growled quietly while holding her in his arms, but the effect she had on him was calming. Hermione looked up at him with her wide smile.
"Next time don't unfairly jinx someone and you won't be turned into a mink," Hermione said quickly before making a hasty exit while laughing, leaving behind a growling wizard and more hearty laughs.
I am very sorry for taking forever to post this chapter.
I have one more chapter that I have prewritten, it just needs to be edited...then I will edit and post the story as I write new chapters..
I really wish I could change a few things already written but my friend Nerissa is keeping me from doing that, and alas, it is too late to change them :p
Again, I promise that I am going to finish this story no matter how long it takes to write...