Chapter 15 - Closing the Book

The run to the library hadn't been long, but on the way they met someone of whom they hadn't been expecting - Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. Harry didn't know how he could have gotten in front of them, since no one could apparate inside of the castle grounds, but Dumbledore had his ways.

"Children," he said. "You are running in the opposite direction of the battle. I assume you have something to do with the appearance of the Wizard of Oz?"

"Er… well, yes," Harry answered. "You see, sir, I had overheard you and Professor McGonagall talking about the Wizard, that he might attack Hogwarts. Of course, Ron, Hermione, and I were interested so we decided to go to the library to do some research. We found a book that we'd never seen before, labeled 'Once Upon a Time', and it, well, sucked us through."

"Then what happened?" Dumbledore asked, as if this was the most common thing in the world.

"We arrived at a place called Storybrooke, where fairy tale characters exist. Not long after the Wizard of Oz attacked the town and we couldn't help but feel that we had been sent there to stop him." Harry skimmed over some of the events that had happened while they were trying to defeat the Wizard in Storybrooke, and concluded, "Now he's gotten to Hogwarts. I'm sorry, sir, I -"

"Don't apologize," Dumbledore answered, and smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "I don't blame you for being interested in what Professor McGonagall and I had to say. And the book sucking you up was entirely not your fault."

"Oh," said Harry. "Oh, alright." He was quite surprised that he wouldn't be punished, even expelled from Hogwarts, but he should have known not to expect that from Dumbledore. After all, Harry had been in worse trouble than this.

"So, where are you heading now?"

"To get the book," answered Hermione. "Since the Wizard of Oz has his own copy of which he can use to teleport between realms, we believe that we can take that book away and trap him in the other for good."

"Excellent plan," agreed Dumbledore. "But then again, I expect nothing less from you, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed a deep red.

"Will it work, sir?" Ron asked.

"I believe you three can do just about anything. Go on, then. We don't have much time. I'll go help the other students."

Harry and his friends nodded, then continued toward the library. Hermione couldn't stop smiling, and Ron rolled his eyes. "Get over it. It's not like you won a trophy or something."

"It was better than a trophy," Hermione said dreamily.

Harry smiled and shook his head before they entered the library. It looked just as it had before they left, with a high ceiling and winding aisles overflowing with books. Hermione ran over and began to look through the books, Harry and Ron quickly following suit.

"It's got to be here somewhere," Hermione murmured, moving to the next shelf.

It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for, mostly because it had been in panic mode. When Harry thought that the book might have gone to Storybrooke itself or something Ron yelled, "I FOUND IT!" and held it in the air.

The librarian, Madam Pince, glared at him from over the counter. She opened her mouth to scold when Harry said, "Sorry, ma'am, but the castle is under attack and it would save everyone if we brought this book to the Great Hall, so, if you don't mind…" And Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the library, giggling, leaving Madam Pince in shock.

They dashed back to the Great Hall in what felt like a matter of seconds. Harry could hear the sounds of magic and saw the bursts of light from far, and when he entered the dining hall, he could see why - it was in a complete frenzy, students tackling the Wizard of Oz and his greatest servant, Zelena.

Emma and her friends were closest to the Wizard, while Regina battled her sister. The Wicked Witch cackled with every move, while the Evil Queen only growled in reply. It was a cold fight, and Harry knew there was some deeper family history etched in.

When Harry and his two friends entered the room, the commotion died down a little, and everyone turned when he spoke up. "We've got something here, Wizard of Oz."

"Oh?" he replied, his cloak smoking from spells that had hit him, and his eyes looking almost maniacal. "I was wondering where you were."

"May I show it to you?" Harry stepped closer.

"No tricks, Harry Potter."

"Why, are you afraid?" asked Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor, and Harry smiled at his bravery.

"Fine. Approach."

The students parted out of the way as Harry made his way forward. He also noticed the ones standing off to the side, not really doing anything but just watching. One of them was Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, who was scowling. Harry hated that boy. Wouldn't anything compel him to help Hogwarts?

"You know that book you love?" Harry asked the Wizard of Oz. "Well, I've got it right here." He pulled out the Once Upon a Time book.

The Wizard of Oz's eyes widened. "What - how did… how did you -"

"Complicated magic, you see." The Wizard of Oz didn't seem to notice that he was still holding the other copy of the book, and while he was distracted, Harry nodded at Ginny, who had been closest to the wizard. She had obviously been fighting hard - her hair was a mess. He looked her in the eye, and she nodded too, understanding what he meant.

She grabbed the book from the Wizard's hands.

"Hey!" he yelled, turning to Ginny. "Wait, I still have… what's going -"

"Yes, there's two copies of the book," Harry said, "but we don't need both. Go for it, Ginny."

She smiled and motioned for Neville and Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw to help her destroy the book. They raised their wands, the Wizard shouted, "No!" But in the next moment, it was simply a pile of ashes.

The Wizard of Oz's mouth was open, but he quickly got over the surprise - he turned to Harry, his eyes blazing with anger. "Why, you little -"

But before he could do anything, Harry yanked open his own copy of the book, to the page picturing Oz. And the Wizard of it barely had time to register this before he was being sucked into his own realm, captured by the magic, until the book closed and dropped to the floor.

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at the still book, and then cheers erupted from the Hogwarts students.

"Yay, Harry!" Hermione cheered, and Ron joined in.

"It wasn't just me," he said modestly. "Thank you, Ron, Hermione, Ginny…" But his friends had come to hug him and pat him on the back.

Everyone quieted, however, when Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Well, I'm glad that's over," he said.

"How did it even happen?" asked Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff. "I mean, one minute we were eating dinner -"

"I suppose it's partially our fault," said a voice, and Harry turned to see Regina, dragging something behind her. He realized that it was her own sister, Zelena, writhing in magical formed ropes.

"Oh, what do we do about her?" he asked.

Regina smiled. "I'm sending her back to Oz, too. But it can wait. I think my friends and I from Storybrooke have some explaining to do."

"Yes, where did you come from?" asked Ginny.

"And were you with them?" Luna asked Ron, Hermione, and Harry.

They nodded, but let the guests do the talking.

"We're from a place called Storybrooke," explained Emma. "We've got our own magic. Fairy tales exist there."

"Fairy tales?" the Hogwarts students whispered to each other, mostly the Muggle-borns.

Snow White nodded, joining in. "Like, for example, I'm Snow White."

"And I'm Prince Charming," added her husband.

The rest of the Storybrooke habitants introduced themselves, until the students were staring in awe.

"And how we met them," Ron offered, "is another story."

"Won't you tell us?" pleaded a Ravenclaw girl.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled at each other.

"You always get into trouble, don't you?" Ginny added with a smile.

The students laughed, until Professor McGonagall announced, "and I think there shall be punishments -"

But Dumbledore cut her off. "Come now, Minerva, they saved us." He smiled at Emma, Regina, and their friends, and spread his hands in a welcome gesture. "Now, won't you all stay for dinner, which had been cut short due to the controversy?"

The Storybrooke residents exchanged glances with each other, then nodded. "Sure," said Emma. "It's not like we'll ever get a chance to visit a school for witches and wizards again."

"Won't the book let you?" asked Luna.

Regina shook her head. "I believe that it only allows us passage through the realms part of our world, if even so. Since the copy that allowed us to come to Hogwarts is now destroyed, I don't think we'll be able to visit."

Harry had to admit, he was a little sad about that. He liked his friends from Storybrooke, and would miss them quite a bit.

"Well, I guess it's an adventure we'll never quite forget," offered Hermione.

Emma nodded. "Maybe, one day, we'll meet again. Now, let's have dinner, shall we?"

And not long after, they were having dinner (again for the students who had been interrupted while eating) and Harry, Hermione, and Ron were telling their Storybrooke story. It made Harry feel warm inside, knowing that fairy tales existed, even if in a small, far away town.

And once upon a time, he had been there. A town full of magic.

Did you enjoy that? Was it cheesy that I used the title of the story as the last line? I used to do that for some of my old stories, and decided to try it again. Please tell me what you think in the reviews.

I want to thank all my followers, favourites, readers, and reviewers! You have all motivated me to write more, and you're such great writers yourself. If it weren't for you, this story wouldn't have been the same!

You can PM me any time you want; I would love to talk to you! But, for now, I don't think I'll be writing on fanfiction for some time (tears), because I've got some other personal stories to do. But you never know, so keep me in check!

But for now, signing out, Key of Magic.