Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Labyrinth or Harry Potter, as all characters involved belong to Jim Henson and J.K. Rowling, respectively.

Forget About the Baby

Chapter 17: Teenage Drama

Sarah hadn't seen Severus in longer than she was comfortable with, and she was starting to worry. She knew exactly where he was- the restricted section of the library, to be exact- but she had absolutely no clue why he was in there. Probably researching some potion or other.

She never saw him at meals, as the professor had never considered eating to be anything but a necessity and tended to grab food out of the kitchens when busy. He was, obviously, rather busy.

But she could not shake the anxious thought that maybe, just maybe, he was ignoring her. It's wasn't as though he had any reason to ignore her.

Except for, oh, fully delving into her memories and discovering what had plagued her for the past twelve years or so. The mistake that had determined her life. The choice she had made that ruined everything she had worked so hard to achieve.

The action weighed heavy on her mind, forcing her future choices and decisions under it. She could never escape her biggest mistake.

Looking down again at the food in front of her, Sarah Williams pressed her fork against her food quietly before placing it on the plate and folding her hands into her lap, losing herself in her memories. She remembered when she didn't eat for weeks on the drugs, how she lost her appetite completely, instead feeding on an insatiable hunger for despair. Everything was gone.

Back then, she could not find interest in anything that she used to. She isolated herself from her peers, not because she wanted to, but because she felt it was necessary- how could they even understand what she was going through? Sure, people made mistakes, but not like this. Hers was the absolute worst, no matter what anyone told her.

Scanning the Great Hall in boredom, her eyes caught on a trembling slip of a girl no more than eleven as she picked at her food before pushing it away, folding her hands in her lap in the same fashion as Sarah, trying her hardest to keep control over the situation.

She was pale, with chocolate brown eyes framed with thick lashes. Her hair was too carrot-orange to be considered attractive; Sarah hoped it would develop into a nice auburn as the girl grew older. But the hair was a gleaming beacon, a sign- she was a Weasley.

More importantly, she wasn't in very good shape, from what Sarah could tell.

While the other members of her house gossiped heartily about Quidditch matches, classes and students in other houses, she sat two full chairs down from anyone else, scribbling in a book of some kind- a diary or journal?

Well, at least she was writing down her feelings, Sarah thought. That was a start to recovery.

But it was the strangest thing, it seemed as though the youngest Weasley girl refused to let anyone else look at her journal. Sure, Sarah had heard of teenage girls being protective of such things before, but most witches Ginny's age would just place a protective charm on the book.

An elbow shot out from some direction, knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice. Ginny Weasley tensed up, becoming an even paler shade of white, if at all possible. She grabbed for her book impulsively, protectively, looking startled to realize that it was slightly damp from the juice. As her peers refused to help her and sniggered in malicious laughter, she tried to wipe off the pages, her eyes tearing up with worry and embarrassment.

Before Sarah could try to quell the situation or quiet the other students down, Ginny stood up abruptly, her face resembling some kind of startled wild animal. She grabbed her journal and ran out of the hall quickly.

Sarah made a mental note to check up on the girl or talk to Professor McGonagall about the situation. Yes, that would be better.

She had more important things to worry about than the he-said-she-said of teenage romantic drama.

"Father, I've got something to tell you," Tobias King stated firmly, closing his suitcase and sitting back down on his bed. Jareth wasn't sure whether his adopted son was going through a period of what those mortals called "teenage rebellion" at the moment, but he was positive that this wasn't a good time. His son's idiotic school, Hoggy-wart, had undergone another set of attacks and Jareth wanted the sole living heir to the Goblin throne out of it. Right now.

Jareth sighed, sitting down next to Tobias on the bed. "What is it?"

"I'm not leaving. I refuse."

Jareth, who had seldom been told "no" in his entire life, was, seemingly, at a bit of a loss.

"I'm sorry, come again?" he asked, fixing the boy next to him with a firm stare.

"I said, I'm not going home," Toby repeated, crossing his arms against his chest.

"You know, I was looking for a different answer that time," Jareth replied smugly, opening his son's suitcase back up and checking the contents. "In any case, you're still leaving-"

"Have you ever thought about my feelings in this?" Toby interrupted, standing up and slamming the suitcase closed, narrowly missing his father's hand. Jareth pulled his hand back abruptly (mostly in shock).

"You're all of twelve years old," Jareth stated in disgust, re-opening the suitcase and pulling it towards him. "I refuse to acknowledge your opinion."

"Father, please!" he yelled back, "You don't understand!"

"Oh? What don't I understand? How about you tell me what I don't understand- leaving you alone in a dangerous place, my only son and heir? How am I supposed to feel about that?" Jareth responded icily, throwing his son's books into the suitcase and shutting the lid angrily.

"I feel safe here!"

"You can feel safe at home, where you actually are safe!"

Toby sat down again next to his adoptive father, breathing slowly in an effort to calm himself down. "I'm sorry, I just wish I didn't have to leave. There are lots of powerful wizards here- Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Professor Lockhart; even Miss Williams is fairly powerful..."

Trailing off, Toby noticed something. The entire room seemed to grow dark and just a little bit colder-items in the room started to glow with some energy that hadn't been there before. All of the lanterns and candles were abruptly blown out by some unknown force or other. Toby quickly realized that his adoptive father looked like he was suffering from the worst headache in the entire world.

He leaned forward, placing a hand on Jareth's shoulder. "Father, are you alright...?" Immediately, Jareth's head snapped up, and the room resumed looking as it always had until that prior moment.

"Perfectly fine, Tobias," he responded cordially, without any hint of emotion. "I suggest you pack your things quickly, as there are things to attend to."

Toby knew his father's 'this means absolute business' voice when he heard it, and decided it wasn't worth arguing anymore. Once things cleared up he'd be back at school as soon as possible. He heard his father get up, brush some dust off his expensive pants (or tights? Toby wasn't sure whether to ever call them 'pants' or 'tights' since the latter didn't sound nearly manly enough) and walk towards the door, boots clicking with every step.

"Oh, and Tobias?" his father called, "Do me a favor, will you?"

"Anything, if it's reasonable," Toby replied, smirking despite his earlier dismay.

"Preferably, I do not wish for you to mention anything about Miss Williams to me ever again."

And with that he was gone, cape swooshing behind him rather forebodingly.

"Now, you two scoundrels," Sarah hissed between her teeth menacingly, "If I ever catch you trying to get in here again it will be the death of you. Understood?"

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley sighed in perfect unison and scowled back at her, slumping their shoulders and walking away from the Restricted Section towards the exit of the library.

Sarah sighed, placing a hand over her face to try to stifle the laughter that she was sure would come any minute. Whatever those students were planning, she was sure it wasn't worth the mountain of hexes and curses that the Restricted Section would set on you if you stole a book, not to mention the numerous alarms. Really, she was just doing it for their own good.

She picked the stack of musty old books up in her hands that she had been indexing, grabbing a seat near a small table near a window before resuming her search for missing pages. Before she could become comfortable in her work, however, she heard sniffled, muffled sobs coming a few shelves down. Sarah set down the books again quietly, sneaking over towards whatever student had her heart broken that fateful afternoon.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was Ginerva Weasley, rummaging through her bookbag and looking desperately for something that wasn't there.

Sarah cleared her throat, trying to decide whether asking would be rude or just asking the girl to leave when Ginny noticed her arrival, eyes widening and lunging towards the assistant librarian in question. Ginny's eyes were wide and swollen red along the edges, looking closely like some drug-addict who'd lost their stash, Sarah remarked to herself.

"Please, I can't... you have to help me... my diary..." she sobbed, convulsing with every new pitiful crying-noise uttered.

Wrapping her arms around the small first-year girl comfortingly, Sarah held her tightly, brushing her messy hair back from her forehead and stroking her back until she could calm down.

"It's alright, sweetheart" Sarah told her, running her hands through the girl's carrot-red hair, "I'll help you find it. Are you that worried about someone reading what's in there? Because I can help you put a charm or two on it, if you are-"

"Someone else... reading it?" Ginny interrupted, seeming to realize the possibility after coping with the, realistic yet inevitable, loss of the book. "No! They can't read it... they won't, he's only mine..." she spoke to herself soothingly, before realizing that she was still in front of an authority figure.

Freezing like a scared rabbit, Ginny quickly collected her things and ran off despite Sarah's numerous protests and advice to calm down, eat some chocolate and visit the hospital wing. Sarah sighed, sat back down in her chair and placed the books on her lap, making a mental note to seek out Miss Weasley later.

She hoped that the girl wouldn't worry too much- after all, it wasn't that big of a deal.