DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. The Oz series was originally created by L. Frank Baum and is now owned by the International Wizard of Oz Club and Walt Disney Pictures Inc. while the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was produced by Metro Golden Meyer though recently re-released by Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N Here is my all new fic: Over the Rainbow. It is a Harry Potter/Wizard of Oz crossover, which is an idea I've been with for quite some time. I figured since Different Paths was starting to head toward it's ending, that I start my new fic now. So enjoy.
Chapter 1: A freak Tornado
It was the start of a new term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As the magical scarlet steam locomotive known as the Hogwarts Express chugged along through the Scottish Highlands, the hundreds of magical students aboard the train were chatting excitedly about the upcoming school year. Perhaps, all the excitement was only a smokescreen hiding the ever-present anxiety caused by the revelation of Lord Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries 3 months previously. The Wizarding World was on the brink of another war, everybody knew it: especially the 16-year old boy sitting in the very last compartment of the train.
Harry James Potter sighed as he looked toward the hills surrounded the railroad tracks. He dully noted that the sky had gone dark and it was starting to rain, with the occasional flash of lightning and the rumble of thunder. 'Much like my mood,' thought Harry. Just three months ago, Harry had been lured into a trap set by his archenemy Lord Voldemort, whom had tricked Harry to believing that he was holding Harry's late godfather Sirius Black hostage at the Department of Mysteries, so as to lure Harry to a prophecy concerning them. Harry and his friends arrived there where they encountered a group of Death Eaters. In the resulting battle, the Harry and his friends were forced to defend themselves until the Order of the Phoenix arrived to save them. Unfortunately, Sirius Black was killed in the battle, an event that shook Harry's very foundation.
Harry had just spent a horrible summer recovering from the trauma of the end of his fifth year. It was certainly no help that he had to spend about a month at the Dursleys before he had to return to the Wizarding World. Thankfully, they had been rather lenient on him that summer if only for the fact that they were terrified of the Order of the Phoenix. After the month was over, Harry was whisked away to 12 Grimmauld Place, the house of his late godfather (now belonging to him as he had been Sirius's heir) and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Returning to Sirius's old house was a very difficult process for him, but it helped with his recovery as it gave him a certain sense of closure. The disgruntled house elf Kreacher was also gone, though no one knew where he had run off too. In fact, one of the things that helped Harry recover during that summer was the various self defense regiments the Order members had started teaching him during that summer. Most especially, Harry excelled at fencing, though he often wondered how sword fighting would pay off in a magical duel.
"So let me get this straight, you're telling me that there's such a thing as Fairy Kingdoms?" Voice of Ginny Weasley brought Harry back down to Earth. Harry quickly remembered that since he his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were in the prefect compartment, he was sharing his compartment with Ron's sister Ginny and the strange Ravenclaw girl, Luna Lovegood.
Luna shrugged as her large, silvery eyes scanned the pages of the Wizarding Tabloid Magazine, The Quibbler. "That's exactly what I said, Virginia," replied Luna. "According to some sources there are powerful Fairy Kings and Queens who rule over entire kingdoms of fairies, elves, sometimes even people. Why, I wouldn't even be surprised if some the students from Hogwarts are actually from Fairy Kingdoms themselves."
Ginny regarded her friend with skeptical eyes. "You do realize that according to Fantastic Beasts, the whole concept of powerful, intelligent fairies is a muggle concept right?"
"Sometimes muggles have more hindsight into these things than wizards and witches do," replied Luna. She then looked up at Harry and asked, "Isn't that right, Harry?"
"I wouldn't know," answered Harry truthfully. After all, the Dursleys had always discouraged his thinking of fantasy.
"Well I'm telling you, they do exist," said Luna. "The most powerful of these Fairy monarchs would be Oberon and Titania. Several authors, both wizard and muggle have written stories about them: some of them accurate, others way off. But there are also several not as well known Fairy monarchs such as..."
"Oh honestly," said a familiar voice as the compartment door swung open, "The idea of intelligent fairies is clearly a myth. Fairies are tiny little ornaments that have next to no intelligence." Into the compartment stepped Hermione Granger: her long brown hair still as bushy as ever. Behind Hermione was Ron Weasley, standing tall with lots of freckles.
Luna shrugged and said, "You have your beliefs; I have mine." Hermione rolled her eyes plopped down next to Harry while Ron sat down next to Luna. Hermione's large, orange cat Crookshanks stood up from the seat he was lying on near the door, and leapt onto Hermione's lap.
"How was prefects' meeting?" asked Harry.
"Terrible," said Ron. "It was OK, for first hour or two but then Malfoy has to go about sprouting his anti-muggle junk and hinted us kind of subtly that You-Know-Who would take over. I'm surprised all of us managed to restrain ourselves from hexing him."
"You and me both," said Harry. "I wonder if Malfoy will ever change for the better."
Ron snorted. "Yeah, and that will be the day Snape declares his undying love for Trelawny."
Meanwhile, Luna was chatting with Ginny again, "Like I was saying, there also several not as well not Fairy Monarchs. One of them would be the enigmatic Queen Lurline. Nearly a century ago, Queen Lurline and her fairies flew over a secluded kingdom on the other side of a vast desert. There, Lurline married the king of that kingdom, while she also instructed and trained several powerful sorceresses and witches. Ultimately, Lurline and her fairies left the kingdom: but not before leaving a young princess as the heir to the throne. Rumor is that, when Lurline left behind her heir, the kingdom was enchanted and transformed into an extraordinary Fairy Kingdom."
Harry imagined Hermione rolling her eyes at Luna's incredible story. He was therefore surprised when he glanced at Hermione and noticed that her eyes were alight with a mingled look of curiosity and surprise.
"You've read the books too?" she asked.
"Read what books?" asked Luna, clearly confused.
"The books. By L. Frank Baum..." when Hermione noticed that Luna had no idea what she was talking about, she sighed and said, "Never mind."
Luna shrugged and simply went back to chatting with Ginny while Hermione pulled a book out of her bag and started reading. "Hey want a game of chess?" asked Ron. Harry agreed and proceeded to be check mated three times in a row by his red haired best friend. This tranquil moment traveling continued on for about 2 hours or so when an unwelcome visitor showed up at the door.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the weener gang? Potty, Weasel, Weaselette, Loony, and the Bookworm, all packed together like sardines." Draco Malfoy smirked at the crowd in the compartment while his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle snickered behind him.
Ginny and Luna had to restrain Ron from leaping onto Malfoy and smashing his face into smithereens. Harry simply glared at Malfoy and said, "I'm surprised you actually had the nerve to come here considering how your daddy's now locked up in Azkaban with many of his other friends. Can't go whining back to him now, can you?"
Draco gave Harry an ugly look while Crabbe and Goyle started cracking their knuckles. "You're dead Potter," hissed Malfoy. "The Dark Lord is going to get you soon, and you know it! All of you are going to end up like your godfather. Although," Malfoy leered at Hermione, making her uncomfortable, "I just might have Granger spared if you want me to. There are plenty of pleasurable uses for a mudblood after all."
Harry stood up, radiating a calm sense of anger and power from his being. He pulled his wand out of his robes, but before he could do anything, Hermione grabbed his arm. "Harry, please just ignore him," she pleaded.
"Yeah Harry, do as she likes. Be her lapdog," mocked Malfoy. "Although if I were in your position, I'd make her my lapdog. Let her be at my every beck and call, pleasuring me for my purposes. I mean really, what else is a mudblood any use for..."
"Don't!" said Harry. Harry's green eyes cackled with electricity and suddenly blasted Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle away from the compartment door. They were unharmed, but stunned at Harry's sudden display of power. Ron had stopped struggling against Ginny and Luna and all three of them were starring at Harry in awe and shock. Hermione was still clinging to Harry's arm but was also startled.
Harry glared at the trio of Slytherins, his now glowing eyes still cackling with electricity. "Don't ever talk about Hermione that way again!" he whispered, anger emphasizing each of his words. As if the heavens themselves were on Harry's side, thunder rumbled around outside the train and lightning flashed. This frightened Crabbe and Goyle so much that they made a hasty retreat away, leaving a stunned and terrified Malfoy alone to fend for himself.
"Harry please," it was the plea in Hermione's voice, that finally calmed Harry down. He glanced into her near tearful eyes and immediately, the power surrounding him dwindled down to nothing.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered. Hermione drew him back into the compartment, leaving a still shocked Draco in the corridor. Luna opened up a copy of The Quibbler and started reading while Ron muttered a few obscenities at Draco under his breath. Ginny however, was looking out of the window at the thunderstorm raging out side.
"Hey, is that cloud supposed to be doing that?" she asked.
"What?" asked Ron. "What could a cloud possibly be doing other than release rain or hide the sun?"
"Well, this cloud is shaped like...like I don't know. A funnel."
"A funnel?" said Ron.
"Must be that thing muggles call a tornado," said Luna, disinterestedly.
"What's a tornado?" asked Ron, quite confused.
"Impossible," said Hermione. "Tornados only form on completely flat plain lands. They shouldn't form in hilly regions like the Scottish Highlands."
Ginny shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, this 'tornado' thing is about to envelope the compartment."
"What?!" shrieked Hermione.
Ron, Ginny, and Luna had no idea why Hermione was shrieking, but they soon found out why. For as soon as the funnel shaped cloud enveloped their compartment, it blasted the windows out of their panes, showering the terrified teenagers in glass. All three of the girls screamed but their voices died down in the noise of the tremendous wind that was now billowing through their compartment, tearing at their clothes. Harry and Ron looked up in terror as they saw the outer wall of their compartment being ripped right off, exposing them to the elements. Then, when they were thinking things couldn't get worse, Harry felt a jolt of weightlessness and the sound of tearing metal and wood. With a horrified shudder he realized the truth: their compartment had been ripped away from the rest of the Hogwarts Express and was now being lifted up into the air.
"Everybody! Grab onto something!" yelled Harry. His voice was lost in the wind but he could see that at least the others indeed had the sense to grab at anything sturdy they could get their hands on.
Closest to Harry, Hermione was clinging onto one of the hangings of the baggage compartment, her terrified face tear streaked as she whimpered, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" over and over again. Trying to keep a clear head, Harry started fishing around in his pocket for his wand, desperately trying to think up any spell that could help them in their situation. At least everybody was clinging securely onto something that wouldn't cause them to fly away he observed.
It was then, that the compartment suddenly jerked dangerously, and Hermione's hand slipped. "HARRY!" she screamed as her body flew right out of the gaping hole in the compartment wall.
"Hermione!" cried Harry. He lunged out at her and managed to grab Hermione's hand as she was now completely outside the compartment in midair. Harry was also being dragged outside by the wind and while his right hand was holding Hermione's hands securely, he searched with his left hand for something to grab onto. He finally located something elongated and made a grab at it, only to realize that it was Crookshank's tail from the resulting caterwaul a bit too late. Crookshanks may have been able to cling onto the compartment carpet with his claws but his claws certainly weren't enough to hold Harry and Hermione as well. In the moment it took to blink, Harry and Crookshanks were blown right out of the compartment with Hermione into the eye of the tornado itself, Hermione's scream slowly fading away as they were blown further and further away from the compartment.
"Harry! Hermione!" yelled Ron. He would've jumped right out of the compartment into the tornado as well had Luna not grabbed onto his robes.
"Ronald, NO!" yelled Luna over the howl of the wind. Ron struggled but Luna's grip was like a vice.
"Harry and Hermione! I have to save them! I have to save them!" said Ron, but his voice was going quiet and was starting to break.
"They're gone, Ronald," whispered Luna, her voice now breaking. "They're gone."
Next to them, Ginny was sobbing. However, she soon noticed that the wind was dieing down and managed to take out her wand and whisper "Reparo," repairing the missing wall and the windows. This stopped the wind but it didn't stop the simple fact that the compartment had two people less. Facing this reality, Ron, Ginny, and Luna broke out in tears and sobs on the compartment floor.
A/N Intense? Well it's only the first chapter and more should be coming soon. This fic shouldn't be as long as Different Paths or The Mage Knights for that matter. Just playing it by ear here. Enjoy.