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 Ah, the sweetness of writing. I just love writing these chapters, especially when the ideas just come forth like a machinegun. So just enjoy this fic will you? And don't forget to R/R.
Chapter 4: Nomes, a Death Eater, and a Mechanical Man
After walking for nearly a day, the novelty of the strange land was wearing off and Harry and Hermione were growing exhausted. It was also starting to grow dark and as if that wasn't bad enough, they were in the middle of a deep forest.
Hermione glanced up through what little of the sky that could be seen through the treetops. "We'll need to find some shelter soon," said Hermione. "It's getting dark, and there might be wild beasts like Kalidas or giant spiders about."
"Sounds a bit like home," said Harry. "I'm not too worried about shelter: we can magic up a place to sleep in and some sleeping bags. Personally, I need some food; I'm starving."
"I'm surprised we haven't met up with anybody," said Hermione. "I was hoping that we could at least ask for lodging and food along the road but there hasn't been any hint of civilization." It was clear to Harry that she was hiding her anxiety. "I wish we had at least some food with us. It might take days to arrive at the Emerald City and if we don't meet up with anyone, we might have to go hungry."
Harry was about to say something to reassure Hermione when Crookshanks suddenly exclaimed, "Food! I smell food!" causing Harry and Hermione to jump. Before either could say anything, the feline scampered off the road. Harry and Hermione shared a look before chasing after Crookshanks.
Crookshanks wasn't too far away from the road, and he was peering up at what looked like a fruit tree. "Hey, check this out," he said.
Harry got closer, hoping to find a type of fruit on the tree that could at least satisfy his hunger, only to realize that fruit wasn't growing on the tree. Instead, what was growing on it were loafs of bread, cheese, ham, turkey, some containers containing butter, and some bottles that appeared to contain what looked like milk.
"Now I've seen everything," said Harry. Hermione giggled.
The two teenagers gathered some of the food from the trees and made themselves several sandwiches. They also gave some of the meats and milk to Crookshanks who was more than happy to have his share.
After their meal, Hermione gave a little yawn. "I don't know about you Harry, but I'm ready for bed."
"To be honest, so am I," said Harry. Hermione smiled and proceeded to make her way over to one of the larger trees. She took out her wand and muttered an incantation. The base of the tree grew a little and ultimately created a gaping hole in its base, just large enough for a grown man to crawl through. Harry and Hermione poked their heads into the hole to take a look at Hermione's handiwork.
She had created a cozy little hole that looked something right out of a children's book about human like animals. It wasn't that large, Harry would have to crouch while inside it, and the ceiling appeared to be made out of the actual tree itself. The floor appeared to be dirt though it was far more softer, and comfortable to lie on. What caught their attention however was the single, large sleeping bag, large enough for two people. It is also worth noting that there were two pillows at the mouth of the sleeping bag.
Harry turned Hermione, looking incredulous. "Just one sleeping bag?"
Hermione blushed and looked down at her feet. "I could never get that spell right," she muttered.
"Well, I guess it'll have to do tonight," said Harry. He and Hermione crawled into the hole, before they noticed that Crookshanks wasn't following them in. Harry looked outside at Crookshanks and asked, "Are you coming inside?"
"I don't mind staying out here. I love the night and I figure I could keep watch," said the orange cat. "And besides, I wouldn't want to get in the way of your mating."
Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped and their faces turned tomato red. "M-mating?" stuttered Harry. "W-what do you mean?"
"H-he's a cat, Harry," said Hermione, still blushing. "I'm sure he means well but their views and instincts are somewhat different from ours."
If Harry didn't know better, he could've sworn that Crookshanks was smirking. "Don't be so sure," he said. "Over my dead body, would I suggest you mating with that red haired friend of yours: the one that had that bad rat man."
Hermione was blushing so fiercely now that Harry thought he could feel heat coming from her. She mumbled a quick 'good night' to Crookshanks and disappeared into the hole, quickly snuggling up into the sleeping bag.
Harry was also still blushing a little but he chuckled and climbed into the sleeping bag. At first, Harry and Hermione faced away from each other. Eventually however they decided they couldn't take the awkward silence any longer and turned to face each other. Upon making eye contact, they couldn't help but smile a little. Harry opened up his arms and Hermione snuggled up to him. They spent the next 40 minutes or so simply basking in each other's warmth, occasionally rubbing each other's back while whispering sweet nothings, until blissful sleep finally came over them.
* * *
Several hours later, Harry woke up from a pleasant dream when he felt a tongue licking his face. He opened his eyes and groaned in disappointment when he noticed that the one licking his face was Crookshanks rather than the object of his dream. His eyes flew open wide however when he noticed that the said object of his dream was still snuggled up close in his arms.
Noticing that Harry was awake, Crookshanks started licking Hermione's face. Harry also started shaking her, whispering "Hermione," and after a few groans, Hermione woke up.
"Harry?" she said when she caught sight of his eyes. She blushed when she noticed that she was still in Harry's arms but she didn't appear to be in any great hurry to move. She looked up at her cat and said, "Crookshanks?"
"Wake up," said Crookshanks. "There are some people outside. And they're not good people." Not for the first time, Harry was amazed by Crookshanks's uncanny ability to sense untrustworthy people.
Crookshanks gracefully leapt out of the hole while Harry and Hermione scrambled after him. Outside, the sun hadn't risen yet though the Eastern sky was getting brighter. The cat beckoned for the teenagers to keep low and Harry and Hermione crawled into the bushes Crookshanks led them into. From there, they had a good vantage of the people Crookshanks was referring to.
The first thing Harry saw was three beings that were most definitely not human, though they were quite sentient. They were about half the size of an average man, had fiercely shaggy hair, and skin and clothes that were highly pronounced rock gray. They were dancing around what looked like a large, metallic ball.
"What are those?" asked Harry.
"I think they're Nomes," said Hermione, shaking a little.
"Gnomes?" said Harry, thinking about the Garden Gnomes he often saw scurrying around the yard of the Burrow. "They sure don't look like the same type as the ones in the Weasley's yard."
"Not Garden Gnomes Harry, Nomes," said Hermione. "Rock Fairies. Malevolent beings that live underground the land of Ev across the Deadly Desert from Oz. I've read about them in the books as well."
"What are they doing?" whispered Harry.
"Shh." Hermione whispered a spell that enabled them to hear what the Nomes were saying.
"Ah ha ha ha ha! No more running! No more running!" laughed one of the Nomes. "Poor helpless resistance guy; can't even move anymore."
"Pathetic! Pathetic I say!" laughed another Nome. He kicked the metallic ball, whereupon he leapt back, holding his foot in pain while he jumped around on the other one. The metallic ball meanwhile didn't even budge.
"Gah! How are we going to move this thing!" exclaimed the third Nome. "He's far too heavy for us and the masters' magic doesn't work on him!"
The Nomes continued on arguing amongst each other when they were disrupted by a voice from the other side of them saying, "Well now, what do we have here?"
Harry and Hermione jumped and nearly let out a gasp for they had instantly recognized the voice. The Nomes had meanwhile completely stopped in their tracks and were now looking toward the black haired, black robed woman whom had spoken, with clear fear in their eyes. It was Bellatrix Black Lestrange.
Harry tensed up and a scathing rage rushed through his body as he saw the woman whom had killed his Godfather. Sensing Harry's anger, Hermione gripped his hand, signaling to him that she was there for him while also reminding him that now was not the time go chasing after Sirius's murderer.
Bellatrix had now observed the metallic ball thing while the Nomes groveled around her feet. "Hmm, so you finally caught him now did you?"
"Yes Mistress," said one of the Nomes from the ground. "He tried to escape but we finally captured and subdued him."
"Fool!" exclaimed Bellatrix while kicking the Nome. "You pathetic fool! What do you mean 'captured and subdued' him? Why it's obvious that he simply ran down and you just found him!"
"Forgive us mistress! Forgive us!" begged the Nomes.
"Never mind, Nomes," said Bellatrix. "My magic doesn't affect him. Pick him up and take him back to our master."
"But mistress, he is too heavy for us," said one of the Nomes.
The Nome seemed to realize a bit too late that he had said the wrong thing. Bellatrix grinned most sinisterly and said, "Tell me little one, do you like pain?"
"What?"
"Crucio!" The Nome started writhing and screaming in pain as Bellatrix's curse rippled through his body. Harry started grinding his teeth while Hermione was now shaking; they gripped each other's hands harder. Finally, Bellatrix took the curse off. The other two Nomes backed away in fear as Bellatrix made her way over to the metallic ball.
"Well, we can't leave him out in the open," she said. "Can't let those pesky upstarters find him and wind him up again." Bellatrix muttered a spell that caused mounds earth to rise from the ground and completely bury the metallic ball in a small mound. The three Nomes groveled toward her, as Bellatrix turned to them.
"Well what are you still doing here? Leave and go find other dissidents! I will be returning to the master, don't come back to him without news," exclaimed Bellatrix. The Nomes all bowed once more before scurrying away and Bellatrix apparated with a pop.
After several minutes, Harry decided it was safe to come out of their hiding place. He stood up and pulled Hermione to his feet as Crookshanks trotted over to the mound that Bellatrix had buried the metallic ball under to examine it. Hermione was shaking and several tears were running down her face.
"Are you all right?" asked Harry, concerned. He wiped the tears away with his thumb.
Hermione nodded. "Harry, that woman! That vile Death Eater! What was she doing in Oz? How could she be here?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "But I think I can say one thing: if Bellatrix Lestrange is in Oz, that most certainly means Voldemort is in Oz as well." His eyes became downcast and he seemed to sag a little as he digested this information. Hermione sniffed and gave Harry a gentle hug.
After several minutes, the two had calmed down enough to join Crookshanks in examining the mound.
"What was that thing that bad woman buried here?" asked Crookshanks. "I couldn't sense anything from it but it looked to me like a man."
"A man?" said Harry. "I thought it looked like a huge metallic ball."
"I think I might have an idea," said Hermione. She whipped her wand around which caused the mounds of earth to fly away, revealing what had been buried underneath it.
It was certainly formed like a man, though a rather strange looking man. He was about 4 feet tall and his body was completely round (which was why Harry had mistook him as some kind of ball) and made entirely out of copper. His copper head and limbs were welded to his body with metal caps over the joints, like medieval armor, and there was what looked like a copper, wide-brimmed army hat on his head. He stood completely still as he glittered gold in the rising sun.
"What is he?" asked Harry.
"Beats me. I don't think it's even alive," said Crookshanks.
Hermione however looked positively gleeful as she was now looking back and forth over the copper man. "Oh Harry! Look at this!" she exclaimed as she pulled something out from underneath the copper man's left shoulder. It was a card. Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder as Hermione read the writing on the card aloud:
SMITH & TINKER'S
Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive,
Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking
MECHANICAL MAN
Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment.
Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live.
Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev.
All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law.
"Mechanical Man?" said Harry. "Does it really work?"
"That'll be the day," said Crookshanks. Hermione shushed him and continued reading:
DIRECTIONS FOR USING:
For THINKING: --Wind the Clock-work Man under his left arm, (marked No. 1.)
For SPEAKING: --Wind the Clock-work Man under his right arm, (marked No. 2.)
For WALKING and ACTION: --Wind Clock-work in the middle of his back, (marked No. 3.)
N. B. --This Mechanism is guaranteed to work perfectly for a thousand years.
"So I guess we're going to wind him up huh?" said Harry.
"Well of course we are," said Hermione. "We need to ask him why the Nomes and Voldemort were after him. He might explain to us what's going on."
"Well OK then," said Harry. "So we want to hear what he says, does that mean we're winding up his speech first?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course not Harry. How do you expect him to speak properly if he can't think?"
"Oh yeah," said Harry, feeling stupid.
"I beg to differ," said Crookshanks. "That red-haired friend of yours certainly doesn't think when he speaks."
Harry snorted and Hermione said, "Well I guess you have a point." She fished a key from underneath the shoulder where she had first found the card and stuck it into the hole underneath the left arm marked "# 1". She wound the clockwork up as tight as she could and a silent ticking soundstarted coming from the copper man. Other than that, he remained completely still.
"Sure doesn't look any different," said Crookshanks.
"He's just thinking; of course he doesn't look that different," said Hermione.
"I wonder what he's thinking about," said Harry. "Wind up his speech so he can tell us."
Hermione did so and immediately the copper man's lips started saying: "Good mor-ning, young girl. Good mor-ning young boy. Good mor-ning Mis-ter cat."
"Good morning," replied Harry, Hermione, and Crookshanks.
"Thank you for re-wind-ing me," said the copper man in a clockwork monotonous voice. "I am Tik-tok, mem-ber of the Ro-yal Ar-my of Oz and ser-vant of the ro-yal court of Prin-cess Oz-ma."
"A pleasure to meet you," said Hermione beaming. "I am Hermione Granger. This is Harry Potter and Crookshanks."
"My gra-ti-tude," said Tiktok. "Now, would you pl-ease wind up my ac-tion?"
"Of course," said Hermione. She quickly wound up the last clockwork and in no time, Tiktok was walking around the general vicinity without any problems. He trotted up to in front of Harry and Hermione and bowed.
"Courteous," said Harry. "Um, Mr. Tiktok, could you please explain to us what's been going on in Oz these days and why those Nomes and the Death Eater were after you?"
"It is a long sto-ry," said Tiktok. "But I will." Tiktok then launched into the long story of an incredible evil from an outside land ("Voldemort," said Harry) that had stormed Oz and taken over the Emerald City with powerful magic that overwhelmed the magic of Oz. The citizens of Oz were now living in hiding or fear as squadrons of Nomes patrolled the land spreading terror. Those Nomes were being overseen by the dreaded Death Eaters while Voldemort himself languished in the Emerald City. By the time Tiktok had completed this part of the tale, Hermione was shivering and in tears. Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder as Crookshanks rubbed his head on her leg while purring. Hermione laid her head on Harry's shoulder while absently petting Crookshanks.
Tiktok continued: "I am part of a res-is-tance: there are sev-ral of them. Since I am not a-live I am im-mune to the Death Ea-ters' mag-ic. I can-not be hurt, con-trolled, or killed since I am a life-less mach-ine. There-fore, I re-gu-lar-ily spy on them. This time how-ev-er, I was seen and I had to make a fast es-cape. I man-aged to out-run and out-fight the Nomes but e-ven-tu-ally my ac-tion ran out. I froze in this spot un-til my speech and thought ran out as well. The next thing I re-mem-ber is you had wound-ing me up."
"Well it was all in a day's work," said Harry, smiling.
"This place is not safe," said Tiktok. "I will take you to a place where some of the res-is-tance is tak-ing place."
A/N Part of the joy of writing this fic is introducing all these Oz characters into the fic. I sure would love to get some feedback on my own version of the characterizations of these Oz characters. So please, R/R.