Disclaimer: I do not own the concept and characters of Harry Potter or the Wizard of Oz, either the books or the movies. Warning: Out-Of-Character-ness ahead! AU, Crossover.

Summary: Harry is sent an anonymous Christmas present; it's time to meet the real Golden Trio… perhaps the adults should run for cover?

Harry Potter and the Wizard of Oz

By Arishaa

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Chapter Eight:

The Resolution of Conflict

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When the trio awoke, thankfully not at the bottom of a pile of eight bodies, they found themselves sprawled on the stone floor of a very familiar kitchen. Harry, Ron and Hermione were even more grateful to find themselves de-transformed; no longer straw, tin and animal; but rather wonderfully, thankfully, magnificently, human. Their wands were again present, firmly held in dexterous fingers; everything was back to normal – including the stir their arrival had created. They didn't have long to savor the familiarity of their environment, as the world around them exploded in sound.

"Albus! Were have you been? I've been worried sick – oh! Ronald, you're ok! You're all here!" And Molly Weasley threw herself on her youngest son and his friends, taking hold of them in arms like steel bands, far stronger than she had any right to be, really. As she held them, she sobbed into Ron's chest, her broken questions tumbling over each other in her hurry.

"Oh! I was so worried! Were did you go? What happened? If I find out this was some sort of prank, you'll be in so much trouble!" Her voice was only one in the commotion that was being created around them, but she was the only one close enough that they could understand.

"Molly, calm yourself, please. I will explain all," Albus broke through the din that the Order of the Phoenix – scattered around the kitchen in what was obviously a frustrated tactical session – were making.

"I'm sure the children could use a good meal and an early night. See to that, would you Molly? We will convene to the drawing room to discuss matters," he ordered everyone calmly.

The trio looked at each other incredulously – were they really going to just pat them on the head and send them to bed? It seemed they were, as even Sirius – who was overjoyed to be no longer trapped on four paws himself – was obediently following the headmasters orders.

Molly turned to them with concern written all over her middle-aged maternal face. "Why don't you go upstairs, dears? I'm sure you'll want a good wash. I'll whip something up for you and bring it up, alright?"

And they were ejected from the kitchen.

"Did they just – " If Ron and Harry hadn't shared her ire, the look on Hermione's face would have had them in stitches.

"Yes, Hermione," Harry spat in irritation, "we have just been relegated to the play-pen." Once he'd finished he turned and stormed up the stairs. His friends followed, completely in agreement with his feelings of irritation.

As they headed towards the boys room to vent, they were side-tracked by someone – or rather, two some ones – gaining their attention.

"Pst! Hey guys! Over here!" It was Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George (or, as they fondly referred to themselves, Gred and Forge).

"What is it?" Hermione was too annoyed to be as tolerant of the twin's antics as she usually was.

"We thought you might like to listen in," Fred said in amusement.

"We've modified our extendable ears. Ain't no-where they can't go now!" George stated proudly.

The trio blinked at the sentence; pretty sure he'd contradicted himself somewhere, but decided it was unimportant in the face of the more pertinent information it contained.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ron said, grinning at the thought of – once again – thwarting the whole we-know-best-for-you attitude held by the adult members of the house.

The voices in the meeting were rather funny, like listening to someone talking through water (the twin's explained that this was the effect of listening through the magic of the impermatrible charm on the door), but they heard everything clearly.

"… it was obviously an attempt to divert our attention from more important matters," Mad-Eye Moody was saying. "The fact that this book you remember disappeared as soon as it was activated – probably a return to sender spell – I think we need to look out for such things in the future. And how did it manage to get through the spells on this house in the first place? No unknown owl is supposed to be able to penetrate the wards. And what if one of you had died? Obviously wouldn't be all fun and games then, would it? Probably would have happened, if Potter had gone in alone, or with just his little friends – "

Thankfully, someone decided to interrupt Moody's rather long and paranoid speech.

"Let's not dwell on what-might-have-beens, Alastor. We are all returned safe; now we must find a way to discover who was behind this plot…"

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to deciding a strategy, dividing up tasks, and attempting to keep a lid on Sirius and Severus – who's arguments weren't so acidic anymore, but still rather lively.

"Well, that wasn't as enlightening as normal. They know less than we do," Ron said in frustration.

"At least the book is gone, now. No-one else will be sucked into it," Hermione pointed out.

"Still, I don't like the fact that the book went missing," Harry said slowly. "Or that we don't know who was behind it. We know it didn't really do anything bad, just inconvenient, but I'd feel much better if we found out where it came from."

The twins, who'd been suspiciously quiet up until now – and come to think of it, looked distinctly nervous, for some reason – decided to chip into the conversation. "No big mystery there, mate," Fred said brightly, covering his nerves.

"What do you mean? You know where it came from?" Nobody could accuse Hermione of being less than brilliant.

"Well… we figured it would be more fun if you didn't know we created it," George confessed, embarrassed. "It's our latest invention, a prototype. We couldn't lose it!"

"So we pinched it from the kitchen after it was activated. It's a one-time charm at the moment, we're working on extending the life – "

"You mean the two of you were behind this all the time?" Hermione demanded, interrupting Fred's explanation.

As per their usual, the twins answered in stereo, bouncing from one to the other so fast it was impossible to tell who said what and who was who.

"We thought – "

" – you would enjoy it – "

" – a little harmless fun – "

" – to take your mind off – "

" – your recent troubles…"

" – We didn't mean – "

" – to make too much trouble – "

" – honest!" They finished together.

The trio looked at each other in amusement. "Maybe we should keep this to ourselves for now," Harry said decisively.

"Huh?" the twins said in unison.

"I think the adults could use a minor mystery to, you know, enjoy…" he smiled at Ron, who grinned back and continued, "give them some harmless fun…" they both looked at Hermione, who looked vindictively amused and finished, "take their mind off their troubles... yes, I wholeheartedly agree!"

THE END

A/N: And so, it ends! Hope you all liked! Ah, poor Order of the Phoenix. Don't really stand a chance, do they?