The Wizard of Black

Nothing as frightening as the Witch's encounter occurred to the trio as they continued their way down the yellow brick road. However, James did seem to have a habit of staring at Lily a lot. Lily tried to ignore this behavior and looked straight ahead for quite some time, though it never made James stop.

"Oh, look, apples!" cried Lily when they reached some trees that were filled with the fruit.

"Apples?" asked James, who began to frantically look around. "What's apples?"

"Don't worry, it's just something you eat," explained Remus. He pointed at the trees. "They're over there."

"I see them!" yelled James. "Those little birds that are hanging upside down on one foot! Ha ha, they're kind of weird looking, and awfully fat. I can't believe you guys are going to eat those things! Imagine, eating birds!"

"Uh... James..." began Remus shiftily. "Could you... could you please stop talking about eating birds?"

"You're so silly," said Lily to James, who was over at one of the apple trees as the boys walked over toward her. "Apples aren't birds. Apples are fruit, and they're delicious. You see, living things need to eat them so we can stay healthy."

"Well, I don't need to eat apples," James laughed. Then a thought struck him, and his eyes widened. With a note of fear in his voice, he said, "Does that mean I'm not alive?"

"Oh, no, you're alive, all right," said Lily. "You're the liveliest animal I've ever met."

"Stags don't eat apples. They have different eating habits. So, James, what do you normally eat?" asked Remus.

"Grass," answered James.

"Ah. Well, there's some grass here. You could go and eat that."

Lily and Remus both picked an apple from the tree, and James went over to a very grassy area and chewed on it a bit. As Lily sat beneath the tree and ate her apple, James began staring at her again, forgetting all about the grass.

"Hmm, you like her, don't you?" whispered Remus shrewdly in James' ear as he sat next to him.

"Sure I do," said James, still gazing over at Lily. "How could you not like her?"

"No, I mean like... you have these fluttering feelings around her," continued Remus. "You really like her. I can tell. You can probably feel it in your heart. You're awfully lucky to have one."

"But I need brains," said James. "She just thinks I'm a silly tagalong. An idiot. I'm just too stupid for her. Not to mention the obvious. Remus, she's a human. I'm a stag."

"Which isn't any worse than being a werewolf," Remus pointed out. "You can just clean up your act a little, act charming, and get love. I, on the other hand, would end up killing love before I found it."

"You're an awfully depressing person," said James stiffly, though he looked at Remus sadly. "Now I need to go stare at Lily to make myself happy again." And he did just that.

"What are you two talking about over there?" called Lily.

"Nothing," said Remus, for James seemed to have been oblivious of anything going on as he gaped at Lily. "We just can't wait to get back on our journey. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," said Lily. "Once we find the Wizard, everything will be great. Let's go."

Remus stood up, and then nudged the love-struck James with his foot. "Come on."

"Oh! Yes!" said James, waking up from his little dreamland. "To Oz we go!"

The three began walking down the yellow brick road again, and as usual, James started to stare at Lily. During one time, as the stag stared, he lost his balance and knocked into Lily, who stumbled and fell into Remus, who staggered and then stepped on something with a squish.

"Oops," said James. "Everyone okay?"

"Apart from falling over, yes," Lily grumbled, getting back up and brushing her knees off.

"I'm fine, I only stepped on something," said Remus. "I'm okay."

"See, no one's hurt!" James said to Lily, trying to redeem himself in her eyes. "Everyone occasionally trips. Everything's good. All is well."

There was a whimper from Remus.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked him.

"I thought everything was okay!" said James.

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm fine," said Remus, who was looking down at the ground where he had stepped on something. "It's just... I... oh, I killed that poor, innocent beetle!" While many would shrug it off, Remus found this to indeed something to be upset about.

"Relax, it doesn't matter. It was a beetle," Lily said and patted his arm.

"Oh, but I killed it!" protested Remus. "And I'm not even a wolf right now! Don't you think it's better that you don't kill anything when you can help it? I'm such a monster. I'm a heartless beast, that's what I am."

"No you're not," said James. "You're not a beast. You just had an accident. I have those all the time."

"Oh, but-"

"Listen, Remus," Lily said. "We'll soon be at Ebony City, and then you'll be able to get a heart. You won't have to worry about that any longer."

"I do hope you're right." Remus frowned at the squashed beetle, and then continued walking.

Several minutes later, there was another fork in the yellow brick road. One path led to a field of flowers, and the other to a dark forest.

"Which way should we go?" asked James to the two.

"This could be a trick," said Lily. "I've read in stories where there are two roads, and people go down the nicer looking one, and they always get hurt. I think we should go down the forest."

"Well then you haven't read any of the books that I have," Remus told her. "There's never anything good about a dark forest. I say we go through the flowers."

"No, I think the forest is better. The flowers are probably poisonous," said Lily.

"You're going to regret the forest. Trust me. You want to go through the flowers," said Remus.

The two frowned at each other, and then looked at James.

"James, what do you think?" asked Lily.

"I dunno," came James' standard reply.

"There you go again!" said Lily. "Always saying 'I dunno'."

"No, wait, I actually said 'I dunno' because... because I don't like to take sides," invented James. "But Lily, I do think you're awfully wise. The forest is a good idea."

"Forest it is, then," said Lily. "Come on, let's go!"

Lily was the first to go, and James and Remus followed behind her.

"You only said that to agree with her," Remus muttered to James.

"Perhaps," grinned James, and he galloped ahead to walk along Lily.

As the three got in deeper, the forest only got darker.

"Okay... maybe you were right, Remus," admitted Lily a while later. "This forest is kind of creepy."

"You don't think we'll run into any wild animals, do you?" asked James.

"We probably will," said Remus.

"Well, uh, what kinds?" asked James. "Nothing that a stag can't handle, right?"

Remus turned his head and observed the forest closer. "Hmm. I think I might've been here once. I can just scarcely remember it. If we run into anything, it'll mainly just be... Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls."

"Ha! Trolls!" laughed James. "I'll tackle any old Troll. The dumb little baldies..."

I just don't know what Red Caps and Kappas are," said Lily.

"Red Caps are creatures that can bludgeon people to death, and Kappas are water demons that feed on human blood."

"Oh, that sounds pleasant," said James sarcastically.

"But as long as we stay together, we shouldn't run into them," added Remus.

Lily tried to be agreeable to this, but was still frightened. "Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls," she repeated to herself. "Oh my."

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls," James said, looking around for some.

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls," Remus nodded.

The three huddled closer together, and all seemed bewitched by their little chant. It was an unspoken agreement that the sooner they were out of there, the better.

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls!" they cried as they sped up. "Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls!"

"Oh my!" winced Lily.

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls!"

"Oh my!"

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls!"

"Oh my!"

"Red Caps and Kappas and-"

"RAAAWR!"

As the roar blasted through the forest, the three shivered and clung on to each other. Whatever it was sounded so terrifying that Lily and Remus didn't even seem to mind that James was inadvertently poking them with his antlers.

"What was that?" cried Lily.

"Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls?" suggested James weakly.

The roar sounded again, followed by a frightened squeak.

"Oh great, the other animals are scared too!" said James.

"So!" called a voice from within the forest. "Newcomers to my land! Get off of it! Or I'll fight you all! Come on, come on!"

"Uh... no thanks," said James.

"Fight, fight!" the voice cheered. "Ooh, I can fight you all together! I'll close my eyes if you want! Or I'll go on one foot!"

"We're just passing through!" said Remus quickly. "Leave us alone!"

The voice laughed.

"Well... Remus... you seem to be quite experience in dealing with these things," began James.

"I do?"

"Why don't you go over there and teach him a lesson?" said James.

"But... I don't even know him!" Remus hurriedly added. "And I don't want to fight!"

"Oh, don't want to fight, eh?" asked the voice. "Okay then. I'll take a hostage. How about the girl?"

"No you don't!" declared James. "Wherever you are, I'll charge you with my antlers, and believe me, they hurt! And Remus here will use his past werewolf transformations as an advantage and attack you!"

"I will?" asked Remus.

But Remus had no need to worry, because the voice began sniffing and then broke out into a whine. "Okay, okay, I won't do anything! Please don't hurt me!"

"How do we know you're not about to attack us? That could just be a clever plan!" called out James.

"No, really, it's not. Just don't hurt me. Look, I'll even come out!" said the voice.

The trio looked around, expecting for a large creature to emerge from the forest. But apart from a few rustlings, they saw nothing.

"Well? Where are you?" yelled James.

"I'm already out!" said the voice.

The three looked down, and there on the dirt floor of the forest was a little grey rat.

"Uh... hi," said the rat. There was no mistaking it. The rat sounded a lot more scared and squeaky now, but the voice compared to the loud screaming voice earlier sounded the same.

"Oh, you've got to be jesting with me!" said James in an exasperated tone.

"No..." squeaked the rat. "I'm not."

Lily looked down at the rat and frowned. "What was that for?"

"I just wanted to frighten you all. You know. I'm a rat. I'm creepy." As the rat spoke the words, he even sounded unbelieving. James started tapping his hoof on the ground. The rat screamed.

"Eek, stop doing that! You might step on me!"

"You're acting like such a coward!" said Lily. "You try and scare us like that and now you come out and begin begging for mercy?"

"I know, I'm a coward, it's true!" said the rat, beginning to cry. "How could I not be? I know that I'm supposed to be a horrifying, creepy animal that makes people scream, but I'm afraid of everything here! I'm even afraid of my own family! I'm afraid of myself! I can't even sleep!"

"Have you tried counting sheep?" asked Remus. "It worked well for me when I tried it. Er... except I had to stop counting sheep because I kept imagining them as dinner..."

"But I'm afraid of sheep!" cried the rat. "Even the unicorns that sometimes appear!"

"Well, he sure seems hopeless," James muttered to Remus. Then in a louder voice, he added, "Why don't we take him with us to see the Wizard?"

"What Wizard?" asked the rat. "Is he scary?"

"Well, I don't know," said Lily. "We're all going to see him. That's why we've been on the yellow brick road here."

"Oh, take me with you! Please!" said the rat.

"What do you all say?" said Remus. "I don't think it could do any harm to add another passenger on our journey."

"Yes, come on with us," said Lily kindly. "Perhaps the Wizard can get you some courage."

"I'd like that," said the rat, nodding. "I'd sure like that a lot. That's what I need. In fact..."

In another second, the rat began to sing in his squeaky little voice.

"Life is sad, believe me, missy

When you're born to be a sissy

Without the vim and verve

But it might be less funny

That I'm so afraid of bunnies

If I only had the nerve

I'm afraid that you could say that

I'm just a scaredy dumb rat

A fate I don't deserve

I'd be brave as a blizzard-"

"I'd be gentle as a lizard," added Remus.

"I'd be clever as a gizzard," declared James.

"If the Wizard is a Wizard who will serve

"Then I'm sure to get a brain!" James grinned.

"A heart!" Remus smiled.

"A home!" sang Lily thoughtfully.

"The nerve!" sang the rat.

"So then, do you have a name?" James asked him.

"Nope," said the rat.

"I think we should call him Peter," Remus said.

"Why Peter?" James asked.

"Because Peter just seems to fit him," Remus shrugged.

"Alright then, Peter, is that good with you?" James asked.

"Sure," said Peter the rat.

"To Black," Lily said.

"To Black!" agreed James and Remus.

"Wait!" interrupted Peter. "Black is a dark color. Are you sure this Wizard isn't scary?"

"We'll just have to find out," said Lily. "Come on, Peter!"

The four stood together and made their way through the dark forest. Keeping their mind off of Red Caps and Kappas and Trolls, they sang their song to lift their spirits.

"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 to see the Wizard

The Wonderful Wizard of Black!"