The Wizard of Black

The yellow brick road seemed to be just the same as it was before, except as Lily and James got further on, a few more trees appeared, and the sky became a little darker.

James had turned out to be quite an interesting companion. He kept insisting on walking right beside or in front of Lily, this way he could protect her in case she got hurt. Though, nothing too frightening came as their journey went on.

"You know, I think I'm just going to sit and rest for a few minutes," said Lily. "I've gotten quite tired. What about you?"

"Eh, well, I run a lot, so I'm not too tired," James said proudly. "But of course I will wait here until you're ready to continue walking."

"Thanks," said Lily, scanning the area. There were trees, bushes, and some more trees, but a willow one caught her eye. She always loved willow trees, and the stories she had read about so many people sitting under them. The trunk of the willow tree was very thick, and it would be just perfect for resting against. So, Lily walked over to the tree to sit down, but before she could even get to the trunk, she was smacked hardly in the stomach.

"Ow!" Lily cried. "That tree! It just hit me!"

Indeed it had. Another branch of the willow tree came and smacked Lily's arm.

"Don't worry!" called James. "I've got it! I can't think, so I'll use my head! Quick, move!"

As Lily tried turning another way and running off (half to escape the tree, and half to escape James' antlers), another branch came and hit her in the other arm.

James charged toward the attacking tree branch, his antlers in front of him like a sword. However, a tree branch just smacked his antlers and he fell sideways with his antlers poking the trunk.

"Oof," James groaned. "Now that hurt."

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, rubbing her arms and running toward him. "Wait a moment..."

She looked back up at the tree, whose branches kept still as stone.

"James!" Lily cried. "You saved us! It must have really worked!"

"I'll say it did," said James, shaking his head again. "I'm sure going to feel this in the morning. Although, I think I just hit that really big knot in the trunk."

Lily peered over at it, and noticed something else. "There's a tunnel under this tree!"

James looked, and got to his feet. "So there is. Do you want to go in?"

"Well, I am kind of curious as to what's in there," Lily admitted.

"Then I will lead you down, just in case something attacks us," James said. "And better yet, maybe it's a shortcut!" He slowly departed into the tunnel and Lily followed behind.

After just a few minutes, an opening appeared in the tunnel.

"Finally! We get somewhere!" cried James. He looked around, frowning. "I guess this wasn't a shortcut after all."

They had arrived into what seemed to be an underground house that had been neglected and not cared for. Many items in the house such as chairs, tables, and walls had been ripped and broken. Lily slowly walked around them and entered into another room.

This room was just as much destroyed as the last one, but there was one noticeable difference in here: There were chains, and chained to the wall was a boy.

He looked as if he were Lily's own age, though he somehow still looked much older due to the exhaustion he wore on his face. His wrists were locked into chains, which were tightly bound to the wall.

Lily could feel her eyes tearing at the sight of it. "You poor thing! Can I do anything to help?"

The boy had been breathing very hardly, and looked up toward Lily as she spoke.

"Please. Just... just go away."

"How can you expect me to go away when you're here like this?" Lily asked him. "I'm going to help you, no matter what you say."

"Yeah," piped in James. "So you'd better let her help you, or I'll just have to attack you."

"James!" scolded Lily. "I thought you said you were going to act nice."

"I am acting nicely," said James. "I'm helping to get your point across."

"Don't mind him," said Lily quickly to the boy. "He's just acting like an animal."

"No, don't apologize," said the boy hoarsely. "I can understand. Now then, if you really insist on helping me, then I will let you, and then you must go away."

"All right," Lily agreed. She would help him, but why did he want them to go away.

"First, you see that key over the fireplace over there?" said the boy. "If you could just bring that here, and it should unchain me."

Lily walked over to the mantle, and took a copper key down. She then walked over to the poor looking boy, and examined the chains until she found the locks. She twisted the key in them, and they opened.

"Oh, thank Merlin for that, no matter if it was the best for me," murmured the boy. He wearily got up to his feet and walked slowly over to a side table with a leg missing. As he pulled one of the drawers open, it revealed what looked like a potion. He then pulled out an old cup, poured some of the potion into it, and drank it. Apparently, the boy didn't like it very much, because he pulled a face after finishing it and coughed.

"What are you doing here like this?" Lily asked him sadly as he retreated to a chair.

"You've helped me. Now just go for your own good."

"Why?" Lily asked again.

"Just go."

"No," said Lily. "Please. Just tell me. That's all I ask."

He looked tentative for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine. Sit down or stand over by the exit. You'll probably like the last one better."

Lily and James, however, did not move.

"Ah... well, you see," began the boy. "This all started long ago. I was just a normal, intelligent child named Remus until... until..." This seemed to be the point that he had been dreading to tell them, because he paused a few seconds, then swallowed and said softly, "until I became a werewolf."

Lily gasped. "A werewolf?! No... this is all not possible."

Remus smiled grimly. "You're in Black. Anything is possible."

"But... I mean, you don't seem like a werewolf at all!" said Lily.

"Not now, of course," said Remus. "Later I will. A werewolf, of course, transforms on the full moon. And that's why I was brought here. I have lived here in this house. That's the reason why it is so damaged, and why there is a violent willow tree at the entrance. It was supposed to keep anyone from getting in here, such as your selves, when I was a monster. Though, there was a way to stop the tree from thrashing, which was by pressing a knot on the trunk. However, I don't think you could have known that, so I am wondering how exactly you figured it out?"

"I used my head," James answered. "And it's still throbbing."

"Sorry," Remus grimaced. "I really don't want to hurt you, or anyone. But... but my wolf mind does. I would travel out of here and along the lands of Black, searching for something to eat, something to kill. And... sadly I've done it. Many, many times." His head bowed down, and he looked ashamed of himself. "You can go now, I don't think you really want to stay here any longer and here the rest of it."

"Actually, I do," said Lily. She was unable to explain why she was befriending stags, befriending werewolves, not to mention knowing that they could exist.

"Well... Bellatrix, the Witch of the West came. And she told me she was doing me a favor. The potion I've just drunk from is the Wolfsbane Potion, which is something new. Just as long as I take it the week before the full moon, I should just be a harmless wolf. However, Bellatrix put it in a drawer. She then said that if I were locked up, it would do everyone a favor. And I'd started to believe her. I'm not sure how long, but I've been locked against that wall for so long so that I didn't go out an attack anyone. I couldn't reach the key, and the locks were so magical that they couldn't even be broken when I was transforming. It's been... very painful and lonely here. The last person I've spoken with was Bellatrix, and I don't even know how long ago that was. It feels like ages." He sighed again. "Well, I suppose you should go now."

"Oh, nonsense," said Lily. "You've suffered, and I know I can't do anything for you. But I know someone who can."

"Who?" asked Remus. He sounded excited, yet hopeless at the same time.

"The Wizard," said Lily. "After all, I'm going there so that I can get back home."

"And so that I can get some brains," added James.

"Yes," said Lily. "And I'm sure that he'd put a stop to you being a werewolf."

"That's very nice of you to offer," said Remus quietly. "But I know that even the Wizard can't help me. There's no cure to being a werewolf."

"There must be something he can do to help you," Lily pressed on.

James nodded. "I thought I was hopeless for having no brains, but he's going to help me. He'll help you too, I'm sure."

"Well..." Remus said tentatively. "It's kind of silly, really, but... sometimes I think that no matter how monstrous I am, I could still be good."

"That's not silly at all," Lily reassured.

"Nope. It's just ridiculous," James said.

Lily frowned and Remus looked over with a hurt expression.

"Look, because I have no brains, I don't know when you're not supposed to joke around," James explained to them. "Sorry. Go on, Remus."

Remus became a little embarrassed as he carried on. "I mean, werewolves aren't always bad. Well, Bellatrix has influenced most of them around here, and all they want to do is go around hurting and killing people, but I don't. I really don't want to be a dark creature. I just want to be normal, and help people. But as a werewolf, that can't happen."

"Why not?" asked Lily.

"I haven't got a heart," Remus told them. "There's no way I could ever be kind and loving without one. You see..."

He got up off his chair and began to sing.

"I'm a cursed man

Changing to a beast

Then my mind's gone and I'm unaware

As a wolf I know the least

Who I have been hurting here or there

And as a wolf I don't really care

As a monster killing through night

I should not care what is right

And yet I'm torn apart

Just because I'm presumin'

That I could be kind of human

If I only had a heart

I'd be tender, I'd be gentle

And awful sentimental
Regarding love and art
I'd be friends with the sparrows
And the boy that shoots the arrows
If I only had a heart."

He sighed once more, with an aching in his voice, and continued, looking somewhat dreamy.

"Picture me a balcony
Above a voice sings low"

"Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" James joked.

Remus smiled to himself. "I hear a beat!"

"How sweet!" Lily beamed at Remus.

"Just to register emotion, jealousy, devotion

And really feel the part

I could stay young and chipper

And I'd lock it with a zipper

If I only had a heart..."

He laughed softly to himself and smiled at Lily and James sadly.

"Oh I may be presumin'

That I could be kinda human

I'd be friends with the sparrows

And the boy that shoots the arrows"

"You could stay young and chipper," Lily mentioned.

"And I'd lock it with a zipper" Remus agreed.

"If I only"

"If you only," added Lily

"If you only," James put in.

"Had a heart..." Remus sighed again, and sat back down on the chair.

"You must come with us to Ebony City now!" said Lily. "You don't act like a werewolf at all! The Wizard would have to give you a heart!"

"Oh, would I hope," said Remus. "But he probably wouldn't. People do have a lot of things against werewolves."

"At least you'd have gotten out of this dungeon here," Lily pointed out.

At that moment, maniacal burst of laughter came followed by a large crack and the three looked to see who was laughing. It was Bellatrix, the Wicked Witch of the West. Draped in her black cloak, she was sitting in one of the boarded up windows that she had just broken open.

"Leaving, are you?" she cackled. "Well, I see that you've found yourself some escorts, little lady."

"You!" cried Remus, looking up angrily at Bellatrix. "You're the one that did this to me! Get out of here!"

"Oh, I will, in good time," said Bellatrix. "But in the meantime, I'd advise you two nasty animals to leave the girl alone. Stag, your head would look awfully nice placed above my fireplace!"

"No! You wouldn't want that! I'd, um, talk too much!" said James quickly.

"You certainly haven't got a brain, now do you?" Bellatrix chuckled. She then turned to Remus. "And as for you, you're still a wolf, no matter what. It can always be a full moon, whenever I'd like it too..."

She waved her wand, and a small model of a full moon appeared. Remus did not transform, though he cringed down at the sight of it, holding his head.

Bellatrix laughed in a satisfied way and took the moon away. "It's not over yet!" she called at them. "Your journey is longer than you've ever imagined! I'll get you all in time!" After another crazy laugh, she disappeared with her usual crack.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked Remus, who got up from the floor, shaking slightly.

"Fine, fine," said Remus. "I've gotten used to seeing that by now- er, forgive me, I've just realized that I've lost my manners. What are your names?"

"My name is Lily," said Lily.

"And I'm James," declared the stag.

"Lily and James," repeated Remus. "It sounds a lot like a couple."

"Well, we're not," said Lily.

"Yes, exactly," said James, though he looked a little sad at this prospect. "We're just good friends. And I'll help Lily get to the Wizard no matter what. That Witch'll never make me a decorative piece in her living room!"

"And those full moons of hers won't get to me," said Remus. "I've had to go through tons of transformations. She can't make it any worse."

"Should we get on then?" said James. "The faster we get Lily to the Wizard, the faster she's safe."

Lily smiled at James, and then at Remus. They began their exit through the tunnel, and though no one said a thing, they all felt as if they were with such good friends.

"To Black?" Lily asked the two when they were out and back on the yellow brick road.

"To Black," Remus agreed.

"To Black!" James shouted.

"We're off to see the Wizard!
The Wonderful Wizard of Black!
We hear he is a Whiz of a Wiz
If ever a Wiz there was!
If ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was
The Wizard of Black is one because
Because, because, because, because, because
Because of the wonderful things he does!
We're off the see the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard of Black!"