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 OK, this fic is definitely a H/H fic. I'm going to be spending another two or three chapters developing their relation before I make the big H/H leap. Then again, it might happen rather soon, maybe in the next chapter. Tell me what you think. In this chapter, one of my favorite Oz characters, from since I was a child comes out.
Chapter 5: Down the River and under the Stars
Tiktok wasted no time leading the two teenagers and the cat down the Yellow Brick Road. Harry for one couldn't help but wonder how such a waddling mechanical man could walk so fast. He also wondered why they were still heading down the Yellow Brick Road since they now knew that Voldemort was in the Emerald City.
When Harry voiced his concern, Tiktok explained, "We are on-ly head-ing to the ri-ver. A fri-end is wait-ing for me there to take us down the ri-ver to one of our main re-sis-tance homes."
"OK. Well why are we traveling in plain daylight?" Harry asked again. "Wouldn't it be safer to travel in the cover of darkness? With all those Nomes about?"
"Not necessarily," said Hermione. "Nomes live underground in secluded darkness: they hate the sunshine. Traveling in darkness would increase the chances of meeting up with them so it's better to just move along in broad daylight. I also don't think we'll run into any Death Eaters. It seems to me that they're just languishing in the Emerald City while they allow the Nomes do their dirty work around Oz."
"Personally, I could care less about these Nome things; if any try to get me, I'll scratch them. And nobody wants to mess with an angry cat," said Crookshanks. He turned to Harry and Hermione and said, "Forget about that. Tell me, why didn't you two mate last night?"
Harry and Hermione blushed deeply. "Crookshanks," said Hermione. "I know you're a cat and things are different for you, but Harry and I are just friends. In humans, friends don't go around mating with each other, even if they're different male and female."
"Yeah whatever," said Crookshanks. "By the way, you've been holding each other's paws since I got you two out of the tree." Realizing that they had indeed been holding hands for the past several hours, Harry and Hermione hastily let go of the others hand and placed a noticeable gap between each other, both blushing further. Harry could've sworn that the orange cat was sniggering.
"We are al-most there," said Tiktok. Sure enough, they soon came upon a huge river that was shining crystal blue in the sunlight. It wasn't necessarily a large river though it was definitely too wide to ford across, and Harry wondered why there wasn't a bridge, for the Yellow Brick Road continued on the other side.
Surrounding the Yellow Brick Road leading to the river was a vast cornfield. It was an interesting sight since it was the otherwise bluish land was covered in a blanket of yellow. Hanging in the cornfield on a pole near the river was a scarecrow.
"There he is. Over near the ri-ver," said Tiktok. Harry looked around to see but couldn't catch sight of anyone. Tiktok had meanwhile left the road and was now walking through the cornfield toward the scarecrow, Harry, Hermione, and Crookshanks following after him.
Ever since he had become a wizard, Harry had seen many astounding things that had been absolutely amazing, so much to the point he often thought nothing else could really surprise him. Even to someone used to surprises like Harry however, seeing a scarecrow suddenly leap off its pole and start shaking Tiktok's hand was nothing short of shocking. Hermione reached over and closed his gaping mouth.
"Tiktok my good friend, splendid to see you! I was worried when you didn't show up at the set time but I decided to wait patiently in the cornfield pretending I was a plain ordinary scarecrow," exclaimed the Scarecrow. His body was made up of a blue suit of old clothes, stuffed with straw and held in place by a rope belt around the waist. On his feet was a pair of old boots with blue tops. His hands were white cotton gloves also filled with straw. His head was a small, stuffed, white sack with eyes, nose, and mouth painted on it to form a face, though Harry noted that one of the eyes was quite larger than the other one. An old, wide-brimmed, pointed blue hat was on his head. Harry however had to cut short his examination of the straw man for he had now noticed them.
"Good day," said the Scarecrow tipping his hat to the two teenagers. "How are you on this fine morning?"
Harry was still rather shocked and didn't say anything. Hermione giggled at the look on Harry's face before turning to the Scarecrow and saying, "Very well, thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Scarecrow."
"The pleasure is all mine," replied the Scarecrow.
Harry turned to Hermione and asked, "How is it that you're able to take him in so naturally?"
Hermione grinned. "I've read the books remember? I know all about the famous Scarecrow."
"Famous?" asked Harry, slightly disbelievingly.
"Oh now really," said the Scarecrow quite modestly. "I am not really that famous."
"Not true," said Tiktok. "You are one of the most well rec-og-nized per-sons in the fai-ry lands."
"Ah but enough of that," said the Scarecrow. "You obviously know me but I have yet to be introduced to you. Who may you be?"
"Oh!" exclaimed Harry. "I'm Harry Potter."
"My name is Hermione Granger," said Hermione. "And the cat is Crookshanks."
"I am appreciative about being referred to as 'the cat'," said Crookshanks rather sarcastically. Hermione grinned apologetically.
"We can have some time to talk la-ter," said Tiktok. "It would be wise to head down the ri-ver be-fore night falls."
"Yes, yes, of course. We must be on our way," said the Scarecrow. He started making his way toward the river and Harry noted that he was rather wobbly on his feet.
Within no time, the party was standing on the banks of the river, and Harry noticed the distinct lack of a boat on the river.
"How are we supposed to go down the river?" asked Crookshanks. "Cats are notorious for not being able to swim and I'm no exception."
"I'm not one for water myself," said the Scarecrow. "Water ruins my straw and causes me to sink. But thankfully, the Wizard of Oz was gracious enough to provide me with a transport." As the Scarecrow was saying this, he pulled out something that looked like a chicken egg from his pocket, though it was colored green, and threw it into the river. As soon as the egg hit the water, into transformed with a puff of smoke into an emerald green river boat about the size of a yaught, complete with a cabin where they could sleep during the night.
"Oh my," said Hermione. "That's rather advanced magic."
"That it is," said the Scarecrow. "That's what you would expect from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
Harry looked thoughtful. "I was under the impression that the Wizard of Oz was a humbug."
"Some say he was, during his original tenure in Oz; though since he did present me with my brains during then, I firmly believe he never was an actual humbug," said the Scarecrow. "Whichever way upon his return to Oz, Glinda took it upon herself to train him in magic and therefore make him into a true wizard. You can ask the Wizard himself when you meet him later. For now, we should really get going."
In no time, the group had boarded the boat (though Harry and the Scarecrow had a rather difficult time hauling Tiktok on board) and was sailing leisurely down the river. The boat was clearly guided by magic, as it didn't require anybody to the rudder to guide it. Nor did the currents of the river toss it around. The Scarecrow exclaimed that every since Voldemort had taken over the Emerald City, river travel was the safest way to travel, as Nomes were reluctant to go out on open water.
"And in the event that they actually are brave enough to come near the boat," exclaimed the Scarecrow, "this ship has got a multitude of chicken eggs stocked up under the deck which we can lob at them. Chicken eggs are highly toxic to Nomes and just the sight of them will cause them to run away in terror."
Harry snorted at the image of a Nome approaching a boggart whereupon the boggart changed into a chicken egg.
Several hours of calm sailing soon led to the sinking of the sun and the approach of night. As it grew darker, Harry could occasionally hear the laughter of Nomes in the distance over the hills, but thankfully none of them were near the river.
Soon, night fell and the stars climbed up into the night sky. Harry and Hermione decided to retire for the night and climbed down into the cabin where a pair of beds had been prepared for them. Hermione had no problem falling asleep that night as she slept contently, Crookshanks purring in his sleep at her feet.
Harry however was another matter. Though he had made vast improvements during the summer, thanks in part to the help of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry was still troubled over the death of Sirius Black. Sometimes, he would spend all night not being able to go to sleep pondering over the many 'what ifs' surrounding the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and his godfather's death. That night happened to be one of those nights.
After tossing and turning for about a hour, Harry sighed and gave up trying to go to sleep. He considered waking Hermione up but she was sleeping so peaceful and contently that he didn't have the heart to wake her. And he certainly wasn't going to wake Crookshanks considering how cranky the orange feline could get. Sighing once more, Harry climbed out of bed and went up on deck. The only sources of light were the stars and the moon but Harry really didn't care much as he sat down on the deck, starring at the stars but not really looking at them, as he felt sorry for himself for the loss of his godfather.
"Well now I do say, whatever are you doing up Harry?" came a voice from behind Harry. Startled, Harry looked up just as the Scarecrow flopped down on the ground right next to him.
"Oh hello," said Harry. "I couldn't sleep. What are you doing up?"
"I'm a man made out of straw. I don't require sleep," said the Scarecrow. Harry felt a little embarrassed. "Tiktok also doesn't sleep but he often spends the night as still as a statue so as to conserve his wind up mechanism, so I'm pretty much alone. Usually when I'm traveling with flesh people my good friend Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodsman is also there to keep me company, but on nights where I'm alone I need to find ways to entertain myself until morning." The Scarecrow turned to Harry and said, "On the other hand, I have often noticed that when flesh people can't sleep it is usually because something is troubling them. So if you don't mind, I could try to offer you some help if you share what is troubling you with me."
Harry wasn't sure what to say. He had only met the Scarecrow that morning and talking about Sirius was something rather personal. Something about the Scarecrow however was compelling him further on: he strangely reminded Harry of Dumbledore. In the end, he decided to just simply summarize: "Sirius, my godfather, was killed several weeks ago."
Harry was expecting the Scarecrow to say a comforting word to him. Instead, he looked rather pensive and said, "You say his name was Sirius?"
"Er, yeah," said Harry.
The Scarecrow was scanning the sky. After several seconds of stargazing, the Scarecrow pointed at the brightest star in the sky. "See that Harry: that bright star in the constellation Canis Major, the 'big dog'? That star is a white spectral class about two times larger than our sun and 20 times brighter. It's also the brightest star that can be seen from Earth, other than Venus, Mars, and Jupiter and our sun, as well as one of the closest just short of 9 light years away from us." The Scarecrow turned to Harry and grinned, "it's called Sirius. So whenever you're feeling sorry for your godfather, maybe you could look up at that star and think, 'Sirius is looking at me shining so bright.'"
Harry's jaw dropped. He of course knew all about the 'dog star' Sirius as he had been taking astronomy for five years at Hogwarts. However, he had never thought about that star in that context. Harry was about to say this when Hermione suddenly burst out of the cabin looking rather frantic. Her worry-stricken face visibly relaxed as soon as she spotted Harry.
"Oh there you are," she said. "I was wondering where you were when I noticed your bed was empty."
"Well, I was in the middle of star counting," said the Scarecrow standing up, "So I'll leave you two alone and get back on track." With that, Scarecrow wandered over to the other side of the boat.
"So, what have you been doing?" asked Hermione as she sat down in the spot the Scarecrow had occupied before, next to Harry.
Harry looked up at the 'dog star' once again. "I was looking at Sirius," he said.
Hermione looked confused for a moment. "Sirius?" She followed Harry's line of view to the star and said, "Oh." Her eyes then widened in further comprehension. "Oh! Oh Harry." Hermione scooted closer to Harry and also looked up at the star. "I suppose he'll always be shining down on us," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Harry remained silent for several seconds seemingly carrying out an internal debate with himself. Hermione was about to suggest that he didn't have to talk if he didn't want when Harry opened his mouth to speak: "Some nights, I can't sleep a single wink as I keep wondering about all the what ifs. What if I had listened to you when you were skeptical about Sirius being captured? What if I hadn't been so blind in my determination to get to the Department of Mysteries? What if I had used that two-way mirror? All these possible what ifs where Sirius would've lived: just so many of them. People say it wasn't my fault but I still can't help blaming myself. If only I had listened to you, then Sirius would be alive." Harry's voice started to break.
"Oh Harry," said Hermione. She took Harry's arm and prompted him to continue. The simple act was enough to break down Harry's barriers as he started pouring out everything he felt about Sirius. He talked about his guilt over his death. He talked about the guilt he felt for dragging Hermione and the other students to the Department of Mysteries. He talked for about a hour about everything that had been troubling him, except the prophecy. For some reason he still wanted to keep that just a little longer to himself, though he also realized that he would have to tell her about it soon, very soon, but not just yet.
"And then comes I start wondering what if you had been killed," he said, looking at Hermione intently.
Hermione gave him a weak smile. "But I didn't die. I'm here aren't I?"
Harry's eyes bore into hers. "You were scarred," he said. It was a statement rather than a question.
Hermione gasped. She looked down at her feet for a moment before looking up at Harry and slowly nodding. "Yes. Dolohov's curse has left a scar slashed diagonally over my chest." She traced with her hand the path of the scar over her chest. "Madame Pomfrey says its permanent. But it doesn't really hurt. And it's not unpleasant to look at, though that doesn't mean I'm planning on showing it to you." She let out a soft chuckle as a lone tear slid down her cheek.
Hary looked down at the ground. "I'm so sorry."
"Its not your fault, Harry."
"If you hadn't come..."
"Get this through your head Harry. I would've followed you even if you had suggested jumping off of Big Ben. Of course, I would be trying to discourage you all the way but I'd still take the plunge with you. So understand that Harry Potter that I am never ever going to let you go into a situation without me."
Harry considered arguing with her but couldn't think up of anything else to say. Instead, he simply opened his arms. Hermione leaned into his hug and simply basked in his embrace. They stayed in that embrace until morning, simply talking about nothing as they looked upon the stars fading as the sun started rising.
* * *
"Tiktok my old friend. Do you notice something?" asked the Scarecrow. He was observing Harry and Hermione sitting on the deck, her head on his shoulder and his arm around her.
"I al-ways no-tice some-thing be-cause there is al-ways some-thing to note," replied Tiktok.
"I was referring to our new friends."
"I have no-ticed that they are ra-ther close. Al-most un-usu-a-ly close." Tiktok looked toward the Scarecrow and said, "Do you plan on match-ing them up? Is that what you were re-fer-ing to?"
The Scarecrow smiled. "I don't pretend to be an expert on matters of the heart: that would be the forte of the Tin Woodsman. However, anyone with brains as good as mine can tell that those two won't be needing any match maker."
A/N Sorry for the delay in this chapter folks but I ran into a mild case of writer's block. Hopefully its passed so I'll be able to get back on track. Anyway, don't forget to read and review. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them.