Disclaimer: Last time I checked, The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939, so unless I'm nearly 70 years old, (which, by the way, I'm not) I really don't think it's mine. As for Harry Potter, that's not mine either.

Chapter One: In which a potion goes horribly wrong.

"Right then. Step eight: Cut up four newt's eyes—parallel to the retina—in the scale of a male dragon, any breed. Slices should be two millimeters thick."

Sirius picked up the small knife and got to work on the eyes. There was a moment of silence in the dorm room, followed by a loud curse that caused Remus to frown at his friend in mock disapproval. Sirius had a mouth like a garbage can and by this point everyone was well used to it.

"I cut my finger," whined the foulmouthed boy.

James rolled his eyes at Sirius's loud complaints. "Suck it up, Pads. It won't kill you."

"Says the one who was practically crying when he stabbed himself with a needle the other day," was the comeback.

James made a face. "Hey, I stabbed that needle right between my eyes! I couldn't help it," he protested.

Lily looked at him with amusement. "How did you manage that?" she wondered aloud.

"Don't ask."

"My finger hurts," Sirius whined again into the temporary peace.

This time it was Remus who rolled his eyes. "If it's that much of a problem, wash it off and get a Band-Aid."

"And give me that knife. We don't want your blood in the potion," added Lily. Sirius did what he was told, pouting all the while about his aching finger. Lily chopped the rest of the newt's eyes into the dragon scale. "What next?" she asked.

Remus consulted the textbook. "Step nine: Sprinkle a teaspoon of dechlorinated salt onto the newt's eyes," he read. James hurried over to his bed, where the ingredients were piled high, and fished out the salt. "Oh, and grab the hen's teeth while you're over there, Prongs. We'll need them next," called Remus.

James returned, carrying the necessary bottles and handed them to Lily, who added them carefully to the potion.

Perhaps now would be a good time to explain exactly why this group of students was concocting a potion in their dorm room, an event usually only seen in the dungeons. (Or in the girl's bathroom, but that wouldn't happen for another several years.)

Well, quite honestly, I have no idea why they were making the potion in their room. But the reason is not essential to the plot, so suffice it to say, for the sake of the story, that they were working on an extra credit project for Slughorn.

Sirius wandered back from the bathroom, finger incased in a hotdog covered Band-Aid, just as Lily sprinkled the salt into the dragon scale. "Dechlorinated salt, huh?" he asked, reading the bottle she'd set aside. "Wonder how that works."

"And you've never wondered about hen's teeth?" Remus muttered, an amused expression on his face.

Sirius thought for a moment. "Nope," he finally answered with a grin. The others chuckled.

It was a rather damp afternoon sometime early in November, and they were all glad to be inside. And while some might have been happier sitting around the fire playing a nice game of chess, making a potion wasn't bad either.

Even Lily was enjoying herself. She had found that working with the boys on an assignment wasn't half-bad. They were all terribly bright, deep down. James's annoying nature to brag came rather in handy when making potions. Sirius's too, really. Lily found conceitedness about knowledge much less irritating than conceitedness about popularity or bullying.

"Now, step ten: stir the ingredients in the scale counterclockwise three times with the feather of a phoenix, and pour the mixture into the cauldron. The potion should become a bright blue color."

"Ooh, I want to stir!" James called, pulling the feather out of Lily's hand. She hid a smile behind her now empty hand and stepped back to give him room.

His yell startled Peter out of a deep sleep. He blinked drearily and wandered over to the group, just as Remus brought the cauldron (which had been sitting on the windowsill absorbing light for exactly fifteen minutes) over and took the scale from James. As he poured it into the rest of the potion—the final step—everyone crowded around to watch.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then there was a crackling noise, and the potion began to boil. Dark purple liquid splashed from the cauldron, covering the young wizards (and witch) from head to toe.

"It's purple, not blue," Sirius stated calmly.

"And it's on us!" squealed James, though had anyone pointed this out he would have insisted it was a manly bellow.

Remus's eyes widened. "Specialis Revelio!" he cried, waving his wand at the dragon scale. The scale twitched, then slowly transformed into a thumbtack.

Lily gasped. "What have we done?" she cried. "Where did you get this?" She grabbed the thumbtack and waved it in front of the boys.

"Well, uh… Hagrid collects dra—" But before James could finish his sentence, the room began to fade from view and an overwhelmingly bright light flashed.

When they could see again, they didn't see their dorm room. "Guys, I have a feeling we're not at Hogwarts anymore," whispered Peter.

And right he was.

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There was dead silence. The Munchkins blinked. The Marauders blinked. The Lullaby League crept behind the mayor. Lily glanced down to her feet and saw what exactly she was standing on. And suddenly it wasn't silent anymore.

"YIIIEEEEE!" She leapt up about three feet into the air. James somehow managed to reach out and catch her before she fell back atop the random dead lady in the ground.

Her scream seemed to wake something in the Munchkins, because they all began talking at once.

"Who…?"

"What the…?"

"That can't be normal."

"Where did they come from?"

"Does this mean…?"

"The prophecy…"

Whispers of varying volumes washed across the crowd. The newcomers whispered amongst themselves too.

"I don't think that was supposed to happen," breathed Lily.

Sirius snorted. "No kidding?"

"Where did Hagrid get that thing?" Remus wondered.

"I didn't know, I swear!" protested James.

Peter who hadn't been paying any attention to the others and was instead looking around him, gasped. "Where are we?"

That drew the others' attention to their surroundings as well. Sirius drew in a sharp breath and resisted the urge to cover his eyes with his arm. Lily, Remus, and James had a similar reaction.

It was so bright. There was nothing that was even the slightest bit dull anywhere in sight. Bright green plants lined the bright yellow and red-bricked street. Bright blue trimmed the shiny white houses. There wasn't a dead flower or a dirty fence anywhere.

"Now I… I know we're not at Hogwarts," muttered Peter.

It was at that moment that the mayor of Munchkinland finally pulled together enough courage to address the newcomers. In song.

"As mayor of the Munchkin City, on behalf of the citizens of Oz, I'd like to welcome you most regally, but we really don't know… who you… are." His song died down into simple speaking when he couldn't think of anything to rhyme with 'regally'.

"Nope, definitely not at Hogwarts," Peter commented, almost to himself.

James took a breath and spoke for the group. "We messed up our potion is all, sir. And if you don't mind, we'd really like to get back to Hogwarts before curfew."

Lily gave him a look that spoke volumes. But since I don't have the time to write volumes and you can't see the expression yourselves, one simple sentence will have to do: "You suck at being diplomatic".

James rolled his eyes and muttered, "You talk then."

She did, having not noticed the look of understanding and recognition—not to mention déjà vu—that had already passed through the eyes of the mayor. "What he means is that we're wizards, you see, and we were making a potion for extra credit. Something went wrong because we used a dragon scale that wasn't actually a dragon scale, and it somehow transported us to your lovely… town." Here she began to flounder for the next thing to say, but it didn't really matter. The townspeople hadn't heard a word past 'wizards'.

"They must have been sent as replacements!" suggested the captain of the lollypop guild. Lily stopped, confused.

"Send them to the Emerald City!" cried the Coroner's wife.

The mayor looked at the five confused teenagers gravely. "Follow the yellow brick road," he said.

"What…?" Sirius wasn't the only one confused by the sudden change in the conversation.

"Follow the yellow brick road," explained the Coroner's wife, as if that cleared things up.

And then the entire town began to sing. "Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road."

The wizards (and witch) blinked at each other for a moment in total confusion, but the Munchkins were pushing them toward the yellow bricks on the street.

"Follow follow follow follow, follow the yellow brick road…"

"We may as well," Remus pointed out. "They're certainly not hearing of anything else."

And that's how the group found themselves headed towards the famous (though not to them) Emerald City of Oz.

A/N: Have you ever noticed that 'once' and 'cones' are very similar words? Neither had I… It was an amusing discovery.