The Weasleys of Oz

Filch opened the palace doors, and Harry and his motley crew entered a grand foyer. The floor was checkered in light gray and forest green, and the entire room was perfectly symmetrical. On either side of the large mahogany front door was a green brocade sofa and mahogany coffee table with clawed feet. Across from where they stood in the entryway was one of the largest fireplaces Harry had ever seen. The mantelpiece and hearth were made of the same green marble as the stairs leading to the palace. On either side of the roaring fire were three golden doors, and the other two walls held silver doors, six on each side. The high, vaulted ceilings were made of glass and were enchanted just as the ceiling in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Although it was actually daylight outside, a dark, celestial nighttime sky twinkled down at the visitors. The fireplace and the glittering sky, filled with millions of stars and three moons, gave off plenty of light to see by.

They didn't have long to look at the dazzling ceiling as Filch quickly led them through the middle golden door to the right of the fireplace. They entered a long hallway that loomed ahead of them, and they awaited Filch's order to continue walking, but he remained in the entry hall and closed the door behind them. The walls were lined with torches that reflected off the matching marble walls and floor. It was a black marble with flecks of silver. The fire-lit reflections of themselves in the walls were eerie.

Harry took the first cautious step forward, and the group continued down the wandering passageway, remaining silent all the way. The only noises were the lion's and Padfoot's claws clicking on the floors, Tin Man Snape's clunking footsteps, and the random whimpers the lion would produce every few moments. Just as Harry began to wonder how big the palace actually was, for they had been walking for what seemed a long time, the hallway opened into a spacious chamber with a large set of double, mahogany doors straight ahead of them.

"Um..." Everyone stopped walking and turned to look at Cowardly Lion Ron who still stood in the doorway of the chamber. He gulped loudly. "You know... I've been thinking about it, and I've decided to just wait out here for you lot." He smiled nervously.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. What's the matter?"

"He's simply scared... again," Tin Man Snape answered.

"These are supposed to be good wizards. There is nothing to be afraid of," Scaregnome Hermione said.

Cowardly Lion Ron's tense shoulders began to relax, but as the rest of them began to turn back around to face the doors, he yelped loudly.

"What now?" Tin Man Snape barked.

"Someone pulled my tail!"

Harry plucked the end of the lion's tail out of his paws and showed it to him. "It was you."

He shrugged and looked away sheepishly. "Oh."

Once again, as they turned to open the wooden doors, Cowardly Lion Ron stopped them with a low whimper.

He was still clutching the end of his tail, holding it close to his face and shivering with fright. Tin Man Snape, brandishing his axe, stepped towards him.

"Mr. Lion, you can either come with us, or I will cut off your tail, you can stay out here alone in this dark chamber, and we will take it in there to offer it in exchange for courage."

The lion actually seemed to contemplate these options for a moment before nodding and walking toward the group. "Let's just make this fast, 'kay?"

They again moved towards the great double doors, and they slowly swung open. Two loud voices boomed out of the room, speaking in unison, "The great and powerful Weasleys of Oz!" The last syllable echoed down the long hallway. Cowardly Lion Ron trembled, and the scaregnome grabbed onto his arm. Harry was unsure if this was to stop him from running or to comfort herself as she was staring wide-eyed into the room ahead of them.

"Come forward!" the voices demanded.

The group did as they were told, and Harry could hear Cowardly Lion Ron begin to hyperventilate. When they had walked far enough into the room, the doors behind them slammed closed, and the noise echoed and bounced off of the walls and floor.

Inside, the room looked much like the outer chamber, with the same marble floor and walls, but the ceiling seemed to be so high up that Harry could not even see it...the walls simply appeared to run up and up into nothingness. The room was absent of any furniture, and the only door was the one they had come through. On the wall to their left was the largest fireplace Harry had ever seen. Harry would have guessed it was about twenty feet high and twice as wide. A large bonfire was lit within it, but no heat seemed to be emanating from the flames. The light was reflected darkly in every surface of the room and caused the silver specks in the marble to flicker and dance. The mantelpiece of the fireplace was unornamented and made with the same marble as the walls and floor. The fireplace was framed by a dark green, thick velvet curtain, which made Harry think of a theater.

Despite the voices they had heard beckoning them to enter, the room appeared to be empty of anyone except themselves.

Scaregnome Hermione was the first to voice this observation, "Wh...where are they?"

Padfoot barked, and the noise echoed loudly throughout the room. Harry faintly remembered something happening with Toto in the room where Dorothy had met the wizard, but he could not recall the scene fully. He soon pushed it from his mind when the large, licking flames in the fireplace burst brightly and turned an emerald green.

Harry shaded his eyes from the brilliant light. He heard the others beside him gasp and dropped his hand. Two heads had appeared within the fire, formed out of the green flames. He recognized them immediately, as he knew he would. But they looked different. They looked menacing.

Fred and George were not smiling as he usually saw them. Their expressions were stiff and serious. With the lack of color, their hair and irises appeared black. Although made of flames, their faces had strange shadows cast upon them, making their cheeks and the skin around their eyes appear sunken in. Admittedly, Harry thought they were quite a frightening sight.

The two looming heads glared down at Harry and his friends. They spoke in unison, "We are the great and powerful Weasleys of Oz." The voices were deafening, and Harry could feel the vibrations in his chest. "Who are you?"

On the last thundering syllable, Cowardly Lion Ron squeaked loudly. While remaining connected to the continuously moving flames, Fred's head came out of the fireplace towards them. It reminded Harry of a 3D movie he had been lucky enough to see on one of Dudley's birthdays. Fred didn't seem to have a neck that stretched, but rather flames the carried his floating head out to them.

He was twice as tall as anyone in their group, and he glided straight toward the lion. He stopped just before him and glared. "Boo," he whispered.

When the lion screamed and dropped to the floor, the twins began laughing uproariously, and Fred return to his place inside the fire beside George. "Who are you?" they asked again.

Scaregnome Hermione was kneeling beside the lion on the floor. Harry stepped forward. "I am Harry. We've come because..."

"Ha!" Fred interrupted him.

"The great and powerful Wizards know why you have come!" George said.

"Step forward," Fred demanded, "Tin Man."

Tin Man Snape stepped forward with an expression of boredom.

"You dare come to us for a heart, do you?" George asked.

"You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!" Fred said.

Harry watched Tin Man Snape's grip tighten on his axe and his metal jaw tense. "Actually, no," he replied. "I am only here with this group of blundering fools becau..."

"Quiet!" George interrupted.

Tin Man Snape glared at him. He then spun on his heel and walked stiffly back to the rest of his group.

"And you, Scaregnome, you billowing bale of bovine fodder, have the effrontery to ask for a brain?" questioned Fred.

Scaregnome Hermione looked affronted, but remembered who she was facing before she spoke. She relaxed her expression and stood from where she had been kneeling beside the lion. "Well, yes. Yes, Your Honor. I mean, Your Excellency. I...I mean, Your Wizardry." She bowed her head and grimaced at her stumbling words.

Fred pursed his lips and blew a gust of wind towards them. The others could easily withstand it, but the hay-stuffed scaregnome was blown carelessly across the room. The Wizards laughed.

Harry quickly ran to help her up, and Cowardly Lion Ron stepped up. "Hey now, there's no need to get violent. We came to you for help!"

"Silence!" The twins said in unison.

As quickly as his courage had come, it diminished again, and the lion began to cower.

"The merciful Weasleys of Oz have every intention of granting your requests," George informed them.

They all looked at the Wizards in surprise.

"But first you must prove yourselves worthy by performing a very simple task," Fred continued.

The group seemed to hold their collective breath as they waited for their task to be assigned. Enjoying the suspense, the twins continued their dramatic pause. The scaregnome leaned forward as if to urge them to continue. Harry swore he saw George's lips twitch, as if holding back a grin.

When Tin Man Snape huffed and rolled his eyes, George finally told them what they were to do. "You must bring us the broomstick of the Witch of the West."

Scaregnome Hermione gasped. "But... but... we'd have to kill her to get it!"

George looked at his twin, and Fred looked away, frowning. "Oh," he said. "Actually we were just thinking you could steal it or something. I mean... heh... I dunno about killing her. That's a little much, don't you think, Scaregnome?"

"You truly believe she would hesitate to kill us if she caught us trying to steal her broom?" Tin Man Snape asked.

George pursed his lips as if he were thinking about it. Then he looked at them and cleared his throat. "Give the great and powerful Weasleys of Oz a moment to consult one another on your questions... about the... task... we have... assigned," he demanded awkwardly, his voice trailing off towards the end as if he was unsure of what to say. The two flame-heads disappeared for a moment.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. This was getting ridiculous. Tin Man Snape tapped his foot impatiently. They reappeared after a few minutes, their sober expressions back in place.

"Do what you must. Just bring us the broomstick, and we'll grant your requests," George stated.

"But... but..." Scaregnome Hermione continued to stutter.

"Go!" they yelled in unison.

Cowardly Lion Ron jumped at their command and rushed out the doors with Harry, Padfoot, Tin Man Snape, and Scaregnome Hermione following quickly.

TBC