Eyes So Cruel by GoDrinkPinesol624

Jareth once said that her eyes could be cruel. Merlin help the wizarding world when she aims everything else against them. AU Post-GoF.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or the Labyrinth

-ESC-

Uh oh under my spell now, let go it's taking you down. Just when you figure me out my love will disappear like magic.

Can't tell my secrets babe; it's just the code of my magic. Got you enchanted babe, all messed up from my magic

-ESC-

Chapter 3 – Bird's of a Feather

Severus Snape wanted to bang his head against a wall, a desk, or something solid to get his bearings straight. He just knew that the Williams boy was going to be trouble the first day he met him. So far the boy was slick enough that none of the other teachers had caught any of the pranks, but he certainly had. His house had it hard enough, he wasn't about to take points from them. That didn't stop him from dishing out plenty of detentions to keep the boy occupied. There were many pranks that geared towards the other houses that he let slide, but that boy liked to keep him on his toes. He rued the day that Toby Williams met the Weasley twins. They may have been in opposite houses, but the trio where members of mischief so therefore they stuck together like proverbial glue.

Severus was not looking forward to the celebrations tonight. Halloween had become his least favorite holiday of all time. Not only did Lily die on Halloween years ago, but it was also a guarantee for pranks to come to fruition. Joy.

Let the games begin.

-ESC-

"I must say my evil little demon it is an ace plan…"

"…But how are you going to stay out of sight?"

"It wouldn't be very pleasant if you were caught."

"That dodgy arse is bound to cry to his father should you be caught red-handed."

"He could use some good lessons on humility…"

"We are just thrilled…"

"Ecstatic really…"

"That you have taken it upon yourself."

"To do it for the rest of us."

Toby smirked, "Well you see boys, I won't even touch him, and I will be in the library all evening helping Madam Pince put away the used books when it closes just before dinner."

"Brilliant, can't wait to see!"

Toby really appreciated being the brother-in-law to an extremely powerful being. Jareth was just plain and simply awesome. Toby knew that Jareth doted on him as if he was his own, and he tended to take advantage of that. Toby knew the man loved mischief as much as his goblins did, and he provided them with some entertainment. If Toby could not find the spells for his pranks he would get Jareth to send along some crystals, and from there it seemed to Toby's victims as if he could do the impossible. Toby held the crystal lightly in his hand as he gave his precise directions as to what he wanted then gently rolled it on the floor of the entrance hall to hide until its prey came along before the feast.

Toby was already sitting at the Slytherin table next to Kellian Pucey, who was his only friend in his house as well as his dorm mate. The guy was pretty cool. He may be quiet, but he enjoyed Toby's pranks immensely, and he had no problem letting the boy in on them as long as he kept his mouth shut. "He's on his way. He was putting away his homework when I left the common room."

Toby felt giddy as he curled hand around the underside of his goblet and smiled evilly, "Excellent."

Draco Malfoy was one of the last students to enter the Great Hall for the festivities that night. Near the end of the Entrance Hall Draco shuddered a bit for some reason. He stopped for a moment thinking someone had casted a silent spell on him. There was no one near him so he shrugged as he continued his way in…that was his first mistake. From the angle he had entered the Hall Draco was between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. He immediately locked eyes with Potter by pure habit, and raised an eyebrow at his behavior.

Upon spotting his rival, Harry Potter's eyes flew open to the size of Dobby's tennis ball sized eyes. He had just put a large spoonful of his cinnamon rice in his mouth. Unfortuneately for Hermione, once Harry saw Malfoy, he had launched his mouthful of rice across the table all over her robes, but mostly her face. "HARRY! What on earth-"

Draco sneered at his rival, "What's the matter Potter? Did you forget how to chew in the presence of your barbaric mudblood friend?"

Harry never been more happy to see Malfoy in the Hall than he did right now, "Nice costume Malfoy; though I think it would make it all the better if you sat with us Gryffindors tonight."

During his little conversation with Potter, Draco had not noticed how the many whispers and giggles spreading on this lovely Halloween night were directed towards him, and not the giant Jack-o-lanterns above his head. "What are you blathering about? Me sit at your table? Are you crazy or just stupid?"

Weasley and his Terror Twin brothers were clutching on to their sides, trying to hold in their laughter for dear life, and it looked like it hurt. "What are y-ruff. Gruff. Grrrrruff." Malfoy's face scrunched in confusion as to what was happening to his voice. He turned around to look at his reflection from the glass windows that lined the wall. "Oh hoo hoo hoooooo!"

The entire Hall burst into laughter when Malfoy finally realized what had happened to him. Many of the teachers were struggling to keep their faces straight though Dumbledore had no problem announcing his enjoyment in Malfoy's predicament. "Mr. Malfoy what a wonderful way to celebrate Halloween!"

"Oh hoo hoo hooooo!"

Draco Malfoy had the pleasure this evening to dress up in the strangest lion costume he had ever seen. He had a large mane surrounding his head that he could not even feel that started under the chin where he could not see. The entire mane had had been curled so that they were very tight spirals. The top section had been pulled together with a large red ribbon. His perfect nose transfigured to that of a cat's, or more specifically a lion's. His high eyebrows were made to grow longer, and a golden color to resemble the fur along his body. The black whickers that were attached to his cheeks and upper lip actually twitched as his paws tried to desperately feel if they were real. Draco Malfoy had become the Cowardly Lion.

-ESC-

Sarah let out a weary sigh as she leaned back into her office chair. It was always quite hectic at the bank in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but she enjoyed it all the same. It amazed her how similar the Wizarding world was to her old one, yet so different at the same time. It was such a shame really that these magical people were so gifted, but with their talents came their fierce prejudices that affect so many others. She knew about contempt that some wizards had towards goblins, and sometimes it angered her. That wizards would only 'allow' them to handle their gold, and restrict the goblins' movement anywhere they can.

Jareth told her about the Goblin Wars. How the goblins rebelled against the wizards who oppressed them, and turned to their monarch for help. Before the wars Jareth did not have a lot of contact with the goblins on Aboveground. Their outrage and cries for help called to him, and he turned them into a force that the Wizarding world grew to fear and respect all from the shadows. Wizards knew there was a Goblin Monarch, but not that he was humanoid and Fae. Also, that their King has been around for at least an eon.

When Jareth had spied on her when she was a child, he could do so because he was Aboveground to check on his subjects. It took a lot of energy for him to cross the barriers between the worlds, and he would check on them once a month. That was how he found her at first. Now that he had put her in charge of the goblins Aboveground; he could concentrate on improving the Labyrinth as well as educating his subjects, forcing them past their bare instincts, and to think like the clever, fierce goblins from Above.

Jareth was glad to have a Queen that was more than just a figurehead. He had found himself a wife that would share his workload as well as his life.

-ESC-

Ron Weasley was still rubbing his eyes as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. Hermione was freaking out about the Charms quiz scheduled for first period. She woke Ron and Harry early to make sure they would be on time today. This was why they were among the dozen or so early risers to cram in some extra studying time. His head turned to the left, facing the staff table, to acknowledge what Hermione was saying, and that's when he saw it. He was not the only one to let out a girlish shriek that surprised any person dozing at the table awake. Professor Flitwick walked into the Great Hall from the teacher's entrance, and boy was it an entrance.

Professor Flitwick was dressed as a leprechaun, but he looked crazy, deformed, murderous, or any other scary analogy he could think of, "What the bloody hell is that!"

Hermione turned in her seat towards the staff table, "I think…someone turned Professor Flitwick into that killer leprechaun."

Typical of Ron to take her words literally, "WHAT! Why didn't anyone tell me there was a killer leprechaun running around?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh Ronald you know there's no such thing."

Ron sputtered as he pointed towards Professor Flitwick, "B-but."

Harry laughed at his friends' antics, "No Ron, I think she meant that it's the killer leprechaun from the muggle movie. It's actually one of the few I've seen. Wait a second." Harry grinned as he realized the significance of the prank, "Ha! It's Saint Patrick's Day. Who do you think did it this time?"

Harry could almost see Hermione put on her thinking cap, "Well, it can't be the twins they wouldn't know anything about Muggle pop culture to pull this sort of thing off. They know just about as much as Ron on that subject."

"HEY! I know some things!"

"But not enough to make this prank."

Harry was trying to connect the dots in his mind, which Hermione found the facial expression amusing, "The Halloween prank was Muggle pop culture as well."

"Yes it is Harry, but the Wizard of Oz is also one of the most known muggle movie, way too popular to narrow it down, but the Leprechaun movies? You have to be at least a tad involved in muggle culture to have seen that horrid movie."

Harry's eyes drifted to the Slytherin table, and he could see Toby sitting in the middle with a devilish glint in his eyes. "It was Williams. He looks way too happy to see Flitwick."

Hermione's forehead wrinkled as she tried to justify his claim in her head, "No it couldn't possibly be him. He's far too young to do that kind of spellwork on his own. You remember how much we knew in first year. I'm not even sure which spells were used to achieve Professor Flitwick's appearance now. He's far too inexperienced to do that kind of work.

Ron had returned to eating his breakfast, one could tell as he spit chunks of food as he tried to talk. Harry and Hermione used to his horrible table manners said nothing as they shot him a few disgusted glares, "I don't know Hermione. You weren't there for Flitwick's Dueling Club meeting."

"I know Ron I had to skip it to talk to Professor McGonagall about sending my parents brochure about the O.W.L.s, they aren't understanding my explanations about why they are so important."

"Well at the meeting Flitwick decided to have Snape assist with the Club because Umbridge 'insisted'. Snape made Williams go up against that berk McLaggen."

Hermione nearly choked on her pumpkin juice, "What! What on earth was Snape thinking? He could have killed him, a first year going up against a sixth year?"

Ron laughed, "Yeah that's how me, Harry, and a bunch of others reacted. He may be a Slytherin, but that's just cruel. Anyways, we all thought he was going to die, but he got up there and sent what we thought was a simple Expelliarmus at him. I have no idea what he did, but usually the spell just makes someone's wand fly out of their hand. This spell launched Cormac into the air fifteen feet and he was flung clear across the room. Flitwick had to quickly put up a cushion charm to catch him."

"Wow. How did he do that, did he say the spell wrong, or did he use the wrong wand movement?"

Ron grinned as he got to be the smart one today, "No he did the spell right, it was the power he put behind it. I don't know if you know this yet, but the different intensity of our spells depends on the amount of power we have in our core."

"Oh honestly Ronald that's not true…"

Still smiling, "Oh yes it is. This is one of the reasons why Purebloods like Malfoy are upset with muggleborns. They may be able to trace their magical ancestors back for centuries, but they lack the amount of raw power that shows up in muggleborns. That's why they believe they need to have 'their power returned to them' and other crap beliefs."

The look on Hermione's face seemed to be thoughtful as well as being smacked in the face, "Really? I never thought…"

Harry quickly agreed with his gut feelings, "So it could be that Williams is a muggleborn with extreme power…in the Slytherin house, full of Pureblood bigots who dislike muggles with a passion."

Ron said what they were all thinking, "Shit."

-ESC-

Albus Dumbledore sighed as he eased into his office chair after a wonderful morning's breakfast. Last night had been a complete mess. The Ministry Entryway was a complete and utter disaster, but the repairs had started almost instantly after the exhausting duel between Tom and himself. Resting his elbows on his desk he rubbed his temple to ease his raging migraine. If he was to get some work done today he would need to get a Pepper-Up potion from Poppy or Severus. He had so much to do it was almost frighteningly daunting, but someone had to do them otherwise the wizarding world would be lost because no one person had the courage to step forward. Albus did not want to disrespect the memory of a dear friend, but he didn't have time to grieve. He needed to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for next year. It seemed he needed to give up on searching for another one, and just hire a different Potions proffesor, and have Severus take over DADA; it would sure save him some heartache and energy. He needed to start the preparations for the Ministry to shield itself from Tom's influence, he knew somehow he would get it any way, but he had to try. Though most importantly, he needed to start the search for the few memories of Tom Riddle that were still available to him. Horace Slughorn would have the most crucial memories he needed. Tom Riddle loved to manipulate people, and he vaguely remembered that Horace was his 'favorite' teacher.

Albus pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out to start his list of things to do. He may be the most influential wizard in the world right now, but he was still an old man and needed some tools to help remember what he needed to do from time to time. Preparing for a war sounds like the perfect excuse for a shortcut to remembering what needs to be done.

Just as he was starting a new paragraph a Ministry owl fly into his office, and dropped an envelope with a Wizengamot seal on it. All he could think was, "What now?" As he read the letter he could feel the blood drain from his face leaving him pale and a little light headed. Quickly, he grabbed his cloak, and raced to the floo as fast as he possibly could. Waiting for the lift nearly made him lose his temper, and hex it to run faster. Upon arriving to the courtroom he met Cornelious at the entrance. Fudge caught his eye, and he could see the dread in his posture, "I'm sorry Albus there was no stopping it. It's too late."

-ESC-

Author's Note: Bum, bum, bummmmm. What does it say? I know! This chapter was just a warm up. I think the next chapter is bound to be HUGE so I will try to work on it as much as I can.

The rice launcher happened to a friend of mine in high school, luckily I was sitting next to her not across from her :D

Just a heads up, I'm going abroad to Japan this summer, and if I'm lucky I may be able to write one more chapter before I go. I'll be gone for six weeks! So sorry ahead of time.

Next Chapter: The Mudblood Act

"Any news from the werewolves Remus?"

"Nothing on the werewolf reserve, they are still being cautious towards me; they're afraid of the conflict I may raise between clan members."

"Then…"

"I found the Marriage Licenses."