"Seriously, Elphie?" Galinda tutted to herself. She had been taking a walk along the Hogwarts grounds only to catch sight of the familiar outline of Elphaba's trademark black hat during her walk. It was hanging from a tree and it looked as if its owner had set it there intentionally. No doubt, Elphaba had been studying outside and decided to use the tree as something of a hat rack for her hat only to then forget it once she finally decided to return to the castle. Galinda shook her head in fond amusement before heading over to the tree to fetch the hat. No sooner had she touched the brim of it, however, than did the world suddenly vanish from all around her.

"Merlin's beard!" she shrieked as the ground was suddenly ripped out from under her. She felt as if a hook had suddenly inserted itself just behind her navel and was now jerking her along, yanking her straight into the air at an alarming speed. She would've screamed again had she not been frozen in terror, gripping Elphaba's hat like a lifeline as she continued to fly along faster than she thought possible. But then only a second later, Galinda suddenly found herself back down on the ground, landing hard on her rear on the other side of the Hogwarts grounds.

"Merlin's beard!" she cried again, only this time, she could only gasp. Her pulse was rushing, her head was reeling, her face was flushing and her stomach was keeling. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. And it took at least a minute or so before she finally felt steady enough to get back on her feet. Elphaba's hat was still clenched tightly in her fist. She gave it a terrified look but, blessedly, it did not do anything else.

15 minutes later, Galinda was storming along the halls of Hogwarts. She knew Elphaba was in Charms at the moment, but the class was set to end in about three minutes. Waiting impatiently by the door, Galinda counted down the seconds until she caught sight of the green-skinned Gryffindor. Right on time, she emerged from the Charms classroom with a proud smile on her face. When she caught sight of Galinda though, scowling and waiting for her impatiently, some of her pride turned to amusement.

"Well! Doesn't someone look like a bubbly little ball of sunshine today?" she teased as she carefully made her way over to her Slytherin friend.

"Your hat nearly killed me!" Galinda snapped at once.

"What?" Elphaba's amused smile changed to confusion.

"Your hat!" Galinda repeated impatiently, holding up the object in question. "I don't know what crazy anti-theft spell you put on it, but it flung me halfway across the grounds like a rag doll!" she cried, then Elphaba's confusion changed both to amusement and embarrassment.

"Oh, no! Galinda!" she roared with laughter. "You weren't supposed to touch it!"

"No really?" Galinda scoffed. "I was just trying to be nice and bring it to you! You left it on one of the trees on the east side of the grounds!"

"No, Galinda!" Elphaba repeated still laughing. "That was intentional! I was testing a portkey spell on it and I was actually going to go try it out right now! But I guess you beat me to it…" she continued, her laughter finally quieting into stifled snickers.

"Wait, portkey?" Galinda's anger was forgotten in a moment of realization. Of course! That was what had happened! The only reason she had not realized it sooner was because the surprise had caught her so off guard. A portkey! Of course! But wait!

"How in Merlin's name did you manage that?" Galinda asked, some of her annoyance changing into awe. Elphaba's wit never did cease to amaze her. There were still many days when Galinda wondered how Elphaba had managed to land in Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw.

"Eh, I just wanted to see if I could do it," Elphaba shrugged in reply.

"Ah, that is so you," Galinda snorted and Elphaba cackled in agreement. It was no secret that she loved to experiment!

"But it wasn't just that," the green-skinned Gryffindor admitted. "I was inspired by our little excursion last month."

"Oh yeah. That," Galinda winced at the memory. About a month ago, Elphaba's Nanny had come up to visit. Elphaba, Galinda and Nessa had all spent the day with her and they had used a portkey to temporarily leave Hogwarts grounds. Back then, only Nanny had ever used a portkey before.

"Hold on tight, duckies!" Nanny almost cackled as she gestured to the manky old boot sitting in front of them.

"What?" Elphaba blinked.

"It's a portkey," Galinda whispered back to her. She may not have ever used one before, but growing up in the world of magic meant that she knew what it was. And Nanny nodded before explaining to Elphaba.

"It's faster than a broom and is very good for transporting multiple people all at once. You just need to hang on tightly!" then on her command, everyone reached out to grab the boot.

"MERLIN'S BEARD!" Galinda, Nessa and Elphaba all shrieked in terror as they were suddenly yanked away from the ground by an invisible force. Nanny, meanwhile, looked absolutely elated.

"Hold on tight, duckies!" she repeated gleefully, giving an almost psychotic laugh as they were all spun through the sky. Then barely four seconds later, they all came crashing back down to the ground. Or at least, Elphaba and Galinda came crashing back down. Nanny and Nessa, meanwhile, had a much more elegant and safe descent from the clouds.

"Ah! I forgot to warn you duckies on how to land properly! Silly me!" Nanny said cheerfully. Nessa, meanwhile, looked quite smug.

"Aren't you two just the picture of sophisticated grace?" she teased Elphaba and Galinda, who were still struggling to stand up again.

"Well that's hardly fair of you to say," Elphaba retorted. "Nanny held onto your wheelchair the entire time! Unfair advantage!"

"All's fair in love and war," Nessa replied with a shrug, still smirking at her two fellow Hogwarts students.

"Besides, I had to make sure Nessa didn't fall off too soon!" Nanny agreed. "That certainly wouldn't have been good!"

"Are we sure about that, though?" Elphaba asked, raising her eyebrows teasingly.

"You monster!" Nessa cried back, pretending to get deeply offended. Galinda, meanwhile, watched, torn between amusement and soreness.

"Yeah. I remember that day," Galinda finally said. "I had a bruise on my butt for like a week straight! And actually, come to think of it…" the young Slytherin began to rub her behind again, earning another cackle from Elphaba.

"Ahhh, I wish I could've been there!" she laughed.

"You monster," Galinda replied, sticking her tongue out at Elphaba.

"An absolutely wicked witch," Elphaba agreed with a mischievous wink, finally taking her hat back from Galinda and putting it on dramatically.

"Well at least you look the part," Galinda teased, looking at Elphaba's imposing figure. She looked even more intimidating with the hat on, that hat giving her even more height than she already had, plus hiding the upper half of her face in shadows. Elphaba gave a witchy cackle to encourage Galinda and Galinda shook her head in fond amusement.

"Maybe you can invent a spell that makes it so that portkeys can be accessed with words rather than touch next," the little blond Slytherin finally said. "That would be useful in preventing any further mix-ups."

"Eh, maybe one day," Elphaba replied with a shrug. "Or maybe you could just be more careful next time!" she added with another wink.

"Well I was trying to be nice!" Galinda began to pout again. "It was out of the goodness of my heart!"

"Well, my sweet," Elphaba cackled again, "Didn't they ever tell you that no good deed goes unpunished?"

"Well I know that now!"Galinda griped. "My rear hasn't been this sore in ages!"

"Oh?" Elphaba raised her eyebrows suggestively and Galinda suddenly turned as red as a Quaffle.

"Shut it, Elphie!" she mumbled embarrassedly.

"I didn't say a word," Elphaba gave her a look of mock innocence to the little, blushing Slytherin.

"Whatever," the smaller witch shook her golden curls in attempt to shake off her embarrassment.

"I still think portkeys should be required to be accessed by words rather than touch!" she said next, insistently.

"Well, by all means, have at it," Elphaba said playfully. "I've got plenty of textbooks that could help you come up with something."

"You don't think I can really do it, do you?" Galinda frowned, sensing the teasing tone in Elphaba's voice.

"Well I never said that, my sweet," Elphaba promised, but Galinda didn't miss that wicked little gleam in her eye. In response, Galinda only heaved a tired sigh and shook her head in fond amusement…

Many years later, one Glinda Arduenna-Upland would find fame and fortune for many wonderful accomplishments over her lifetime. One of her most recent ones was finally inventing a portkey that required a very specific phrase to be spoken before the portkey would lift off. The first successful prototype came in the form of a pair of ruby slippers, and the passphrase was one that would become just as iconic as the shoes that it was attached to.

AN: My headcanon is that Dorothy's shoes were portkeys (just accessed with word rather than touch), because of course Glinda would want to use fancy slippers rather than a manky old boot. Furthermore, this means Glinda is crazy powerful if she can, in this AU, send a girl from England to America with one portkey. That's an impressive feat.

Also yes, I'm sure there are probably lots of rules about using portkeys on school grounds, or making them without anyone else's knowledge, but let's just pretend that those rules don't matter for this chapter, ok? LOL.