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 I feel very encouraged by the reviews I received so far. I don't know how much time I'll have to update this story frequently but I'll try to do so as often I can spare. In the mean time, just enjoy every update as it comes because I really want to just have fun with this story.
Chapter 2: In a Strange Land
When Harry came to, the first thing he felt was that he was now lying on grass, the sun shining overhead. He also realized that he was holding onto a girl, whom he assumed was Hermione by the way she was clinging on to him. Harry opened his eyes and was immediately struck by the beauty of the land he was in, though he quickly noticed something strange: every leaf of every plant from the glades of grass to the leaves in nearby trees was a greenish blue. Even the petals of every flower in the place (wherever they were), was a shade of blue.
All too quickly, Harry remembered the tornado and about being sucked out into the storm with Hermione. He noticed that Hermione was holding onto him tightly in her sleep and he gently nudged her.
"Hermione?"
Hermione stirred a little and let out a groan. She opened her eyes and gazed into Harry's green orbs. "Harry? What happened? The last thing I remember, we were sucked into a tornado..." Hermione shivered as she recalled the event and Harry held her a little tighter.
"I don't know," said Harry, idly wondering why he and Hermione were still clinging to each other and why it felt so good and natural.
"Are... are we dead?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
Were they dead? Harry swallowed as he realized the possibility was very real: this strange land seemed Heavenly enough. He was about to tell Hermione this when an unfamiliar voice said, "Oh please, if we really were dead I doubt I'd still feel so sore from being dropped off by that funnel cloud thing!"
Harry and Hermione sprang up into a sitting position, though they were still rather close to each other. They looked around for the source of the voice but all they found was Crookshanks the cat sitting at their feet. "Who said that?" demanded Harry."
"I did. I mean really, who else is there around here?" Both Harry and Hermione gasped for the voice had come from Crookshanks's mouth.
"Crookshanks? You can talk?" asked Hermione.
"Aren't I talking now?" said the orange cat.
"But, how?" asked Harry.
"Easy," said Crookshanks. "I just think up of something to say, take a breath, and let the words come out of my mouth."
"No I mean, you have the ability to talk?" said Harry. "Have you always been able to talk?" Harry had long realized that Hermione's cat wasn't an ordinary feline and he somehow thought that it certainly wasn't above Crookshanks to conceal a hidden ability of speech for years.
Crookshanks however looked thoughtful (if a cat could look thoughtful) and said, "Actually, that first sentence I said to you was the first words I ever spoke in my life. I've never spoken to humans before or for that matter never completely comprehended what humans said to one another though I could often figure it out." Crookshanks turned his large greenish yellow eyes back on Harry and Hermione and said, "So, Crookshanks is my name?"
"That's right," said Hermione who was now beaming. "Do you know who I am?" she said as she stretched her hands out toward the cat.
Crookshanks started purring and walked over to her. "Of course I do, you're my person." He started stroking his head along Hermione's hands.
Hermione laughed and started petting Crookshanks. "That's right, I'm Hermione," she said. She toward Harry and said, "And that's Harry."
"Hairy? Hmm, well I guess that pile of black fur on his head looks hairy enough. What a mess."
"Oh ha ha, very funny," said Harry as he stood up. "So really, where are we? What kind of place could we been in where plants are blue and cats can talk if we're not dead?"
"Don't forget the unending miles of sand behind you," said the cat.
"Sand?" Harry and Hermione said at the same time and look behind them. Several feet away from where they had been lying, the bluish grass abruptly stopped and a great, sandy desert stretched far out into the horizon, farther than the naked eye could see. It was an interesting view: toward one way, there was a bluish land of grass and forests, and toward the other direction was never-ending desert.
"A Desert?" said Harry. "What kind of desert is this where the grass just stops and the sand just starts?" He started walking toward the sand, intent on examining it himself.
Hermione, who had been thinking while glancing back and forth from the blue plants, to Crookshanks, to the desert, suddenly cried out, "Harry, don't touch the sand!"
Harry stopped in his tracks and turned toward her. "Huh? Why?"
"Because," said Hermione also standing up, "if we're where I think where we are, than that's the Deadly Desert. It'll kill you the second you touch it."
"What? Deadly Desert?" said Harry, obviously confused.
"It'll change you to dust in a second if you touch the sand. I just need to make sure where we are, follow me," said Hermione. She started walking away from the desert toward the bluish grasslands and forests, Crookshanks trailing after her. Harry was still confused by everything but he dutifully followed after her.
Hermione kept on walking past trees and bushes for nearly thirty minutes, further and further away from the desert. She seemed to be looking for something as her head was constantly darting back and forth, surveying the landscape, which Harry had to admit was the most beautiful landscape he had ever seen in his life.
Or perhaps it's the girl amidst this landscape that really looks beautiful, said a sly voice in the back of Harry's head. Confused by his own thoughts, Harry shook his head and pushed the thought to the back of his mind.
Hermione's eyes suddenly caught something and she gleefully shrieked, "I knew it! I knew it!" Harry had rarely seen Hermione like this; acting like a gleeful child on Christmas as she bounded toward whatever it was that caught her eye.
Harry soon saw it too, though he didn't necessarily understand what was so special about it. It was a road, a brick road to be exact, leading in the direction away from the desert. There was something unusual about the brick road in that the bricks that were used to construct the road were a bright yellow color, in clear contrast to the bluish land surrounding them. Hermione however was clearly absolutely ecstatic about finding the road and was positively bounding around excitedly.
"The way she's going around, you'd think she'd found a storage of catnip," said Crookshanks. Harry had to agree.
"Oh Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, beaming at him. "Aren't you excited? Do you realize where we are?"
"Er," Harry clearly had no idea so Hermione pressed on.
"Harry, we're in the Land of Oz!" she exclaimed.
"Huh?" said Harry, still drawing a blank.
"Oh come on Harry. Even if you haven't read the books you must've seen the movie."
Harry was about to mention that the Dursleys never let him see movies when it suddenly clicked. One night, about 3 years before he received his Hogwarts Acceptance letter, Harry had discovered that his cousin Dudley had fallen asleep in front of the television. His Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had already gone to sleep and Harry knew that nothing short of World War III would've waken them up. Harry had crept out of his cupboard, intending to shut the TV off, as it was keeping him awake, when he noticed a certain movie was playing: a 1939 MGM classic called The Wizard of Oz. Intrigued, Harry had stayed up late into the night watching the movie, keeping the volume low so as to make sure his relatives stayed asleep. As soon as the movie was done, he shut the TV off, and returned to his cupboard, relishing that one moment where he was able to go behind the Dursleys' backs doing something they wouldn't allow him to do.
Hermione must've remembered about the Dursleys for she had started saying, "Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that those relatives of yours..."
"No. Actually, The Wizard of Oz is one movie I did manage to see," said Harry. "But I thought it was just a story."
"So did I," said Hermione. "But I started to get a little suspicious when Luna started talking about Oz earlier today. You know those fairylands she was talking about? The one about Queen Lurline?"
"That was Oz?" asked Harry.
"That's right," said Hermione. "It seemed to coincidental for a witch to talk about Oz so I asked her if she had read the books. She clearly hadn't, but I figured maybe the author of that Quibbler article must've read the books and thought it would make a good tabloid story so I didn't questioned her further. Oh but Harry! It does exist! I used to dream of traveling to Oz as a child, every night after I read the books. It was my favorite escapist fantasy growing up. Of course, I had long realized it was only a fantasy, but you would think that my becoming a witch should open my eyes to the possibility of it all being true. Oh, and now I'm standing right here at the very proof of Oz and I can't believe I always thought those books were nothing more than L. Frank Baum's imagination..."
"OK, OK, I get the idea!" said Harry. "So now that we've established that we're in Oz, what do we do?"
"Find a place where we could get some food," said Crookshanks. "I may be alright now, but soon, it's going to be starve city."
"City, of course," said Hermione. "We need to head to the Emerald City, the capital of Oz. There should be some magical tools there can get us back to Hogwarts." She pointed to the road. "The Yellow Brick Road should lead us straight there."
"To the Emerald City?" said Harry, grinning now. "Are we going to go prancing down the Yellow Brick Road singing 'We're off to see the Wizard'?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do you realize how ironic that sounds considering you're a wizard yourself?"
Harry laughed and said, "Of course I do." Hermione rolled her eyes once more as Harry looked around the landscape again. "By the way, why is everything a bluish color?"
"Because we're in the Munchkin Country," said Hermione. "Oz is divided into four countries, centered by the Emerald City. In the east there's the Munchkin Country where everything is blue. In the west, there's the Winkie Country where the main color is yellow. The Gillikin Country in the north is a purple land while the Quadling Country in the south is all red. Oh, and the Emerald City and surrounding regions are green."
Harry shugged. "Well OK then. What are we waiting for? Off to the Emerald City!" he grinned and offered his hand to Hermione. Hermione smiled and took his hand, and they started walking down the Yellow Brink Road, Crookshanks trotting along at their feet.
* * *
Ronald Weasley groaned as he groggily woke up. He noticed that the sun was now shining through the repaired windows, meaning that the tornado had long passed. Also the fact that the compartment was no longer jolting around indicated that they were back on the ground.
"Are you OK Ron? Are you fine Ron? Not hurt Ron? Huh? Huh? Huh? Do you need help? Do you need to send a message? Should I send a message? Can I send a message? Will you send a message? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I help somehow? What was that storm last night? All the shaking really scared me. But it looks like we're OK. Are we really OK? Where are we for that matter? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Ron was about to tell Ginny to shut up when he realized that the insistent chatting wasn't his sister's voice. He looked up to realize that it was coming from none other than his pint size owl, Pigwidgeon, who was now fluttering around the compartment babbling endlessly.
"Oh goody! You're up! I'm so happy now! So what're we going to do? Are we going to go outside? Are we going to stay here? Are we going to play? Have fun? I really want to have some fun. So can we have fun? Huh? Huh? Huh?" prattled Pigwidgeon.
"Alright, who put a speaking spell on Pig?" Ron asked.
"Whoever it was, I wished they'd take it off," said a haughty, feminine voice. "He's starting to give me a headache."
Ron looked to notice that this time, the speaker was none other than Harry's snowy white owl, Hedwig. "Someone put a speaking spell on you as well?"
Hedwig ruffled her feathers. "Whomever it was must have put it on me while I was still asleep. Why the nerve, putting spells on me while I was out. Why, no owl should be subject to that kind of treatment. And it should not be allowed to place Pigwidgeon under such a spell!"
Pigwidgeon started fluttering around Hedwig saying, "Oh Hedwig! I'm so sorry! Will you forgive? Please forgive me? Why won't you forgive me? Are you mad at me? I don't like it when you're mad at me! I don't like it when anyone's mad at me! Are you really mad at me? Huh? Huh? Huh? What can I do to make you not mad at me? Is there something I can do..."
"Pig, shut up!" exclaimed Ron. Pigwidgeon instantly shut up and settled on a perch next to Hedwig. "OK, now who put speaking spells on the owls?" He looked over to the girls lying on the compartment floor and noticed that they had woken up. "Ginny, did you?"
"I didn't put any spells on the owls," said Ginny. "And besides, why should I? I don't think talking owls are going to be much help to us."
Ron looked puzzled. "But if nobody put a spell on the owls, why can they talk?"
"Because I don't think we're in Scotland anymore, Ronald," said Luna, glancing out the window.
"What?" said Ron and Ginny.
"We're in a fairyland," said Luna. "Look for yourselves." She threw the compartment doors open and the compartment was flooded with sunlight. The scene outside was astounding.
They were in the courtyard of a palace of some kind. There were pillars surrounding them all, decorated with rubies. There were trees all over the courtyard with red leaves as well as flowers were scarlet petals all over the ground. That in it self wasn't too much of a big deal but even the grass was red, which was definitely unusual. Down a small path from where the compartment had landed was the grand entrance to the palace, also covered with rubies. And there standing in that entrance way was the most astounding sight of all.
It was a woman. A tall, exceedingly beautiful woman wearing scarlet robes and had long golden, red hair. She wore no jewelry, but her beauty made it so that any jewelry she could've worn would look too awkward on her. And most charming of all was the maternal smile she was giving them. Ginny made an intake of breath while Ron's ears turned red.
"Welcome, my children," she said, and her voice sounded angelic. "Welcome to my palace."
The Hogwarts students and owls were speechless for a moment, even Pigwidgeon. Finally Ginny managed to stutter, "P-please ma'am. Not to be rude but where are we? Who are you? Why did you bring us here?"
The woman smiled again, and Ron looked ready to hyperventilate. Luna slapped him on the back and reminded him to breathe. "Do not worry children, all of your questions will be answered soon. However if you must know, you are in the Land of Oz, in my palace in the Southern Quadling Country. And my name is Glinda. Glinda the Good."
"Are... are you a witch?" Ginny hesitantly asked.
Glinda laughed, and oh what a beautiful laugh it was. "Most people call me a sorceress these days," she said. "But yes, I am a witch. I am the witch of the South. But please, come inside where I can properly prepare a meal for you and I shall answer all questions you have."
Ron and Luna were about to follow Glinda when Ginny exclaimed, "Oh no! What about Harry and Hermione? Are they OK?"
Glinda turned to Ginny, her face troubled. "There were more of you?" she asked.
"Yes," said Ron, now distressed about his missing best friends. "They were blown out of our compartment into that tornado thing."
Glinda seemed to be thinking something and face seemed to pale a little bit. "Come with me," she said and she disappeared into the palace, Ron, Ginny, and Luna following after her.
A/N Wow, I'm having a lot of fun writing this. I'm going to be introducing more and more Oz lore into the fic as I progress through it, but I'll try to explain things as I go along so that people who are clueless about Oz will not be confused. Of course, I'm also going to recommend you all to read L. Frank Baum's books. They're great.