Chapter 10

"Harry," A familiar disembodied voice sounded through Harry's dream land.

"I'm flying right now, can it wait until I land?" Harry said what, to him, sounded like a sound argument for the interrupting voice to go away.

"If you don't wake up you'll miss it, Starshine," The voice said no less kindly.

Harry rolled over and opened his eyes. He squinted against the dim light coming from the end of a wand as his eyes adjusted. His bedroom slowly came into focus as the memories of flying in his dream left him.

"You say the funniest things when you talk in your sleep," Willy said when he saw that Harry was almost alert enough for talking.

"Morning, dad," Harry yawned. "What time is it?"

"About four in the morning," Willy said.

"The sun's not even up yet!" Harry exclaimed. "Surely no one is randomly eating chocolate this early."

"Well," Willy said. "They might not be here, but in Germany it's exactly the right time for a nice mid breakfast snack!"

Harry sat up with a gasp.

"The first ticket was found in Germany?"

"That's what our tracking charm says," Willy confirmed. "The news announcers should be reporting it any minute now."

Harry jumped out of bed, slid on his slippers, and pulled on a robe. He then made a beeline for the door.

"Well, let's go!" Harry took off towards the sitting room. His father was close behind him.

The Wonkas sat on the deep blue couch and switched the tv on. True to Willy's prediction, a German station was just beginning a broadcast on the first ticket winner.

"Could you do a translation spell?" Harry asked. He had been trying to learn some of the languages that his father knew, but wasn't as talented in tongues as his father was. Latin based languages came a bit easier due to him having to take Latin in school, but German, like many other non Romance languages, was a struggle.

Willy waved his wand and the reporter's words were translated to English. The people still had a German accent through the charm.

"We are here at the home of a young boy named Augustus Gloop," The woman on the tv said. "Augustus is the first winner of one of Mr. Willy Wonka's golden tickets! He is, perhaps, the first person other than Wonka himself to ever lay eyes on the shiny prize. Here is his mother to share a few words on the matter."

A large woman wearing a light pink dress stepped into the view of the camera. Her hair was tied partially back in a way that showed that she had put some effort into how she looked before alerting the media to her son's find.

"Of course I just knew that my little Augustus would win a ticket!" She clasped her hands together in happiness. "How could he not? He loves chocolate! He would never stop eating it if he could. I was just happy that he was the first one to win!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Gloop," the reporter said. "Would it be ok if we talked to Augustus for a little while?"

"Of course, of course!" Mrs. Gloop led the reporter and camera crew into the house. "He hasn't gotten to talk to a reporter since one wrote the story on the junior chef competition! He was a junior judge on it, you know?"

The crew followed Mrs. Gloop into the kitchen where a severely overweight boy was sitting behind a table eating a chocolate bar. A pile of wrappers were strewn around him.

"Augustus," The reporter addressed the boy. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," Augustus said as he took another bite of his chocolate.

"How are you feeling about winning a ticket?" The reporter clarified.

"Oh," Augustus swallowed a mouthful of melted chocolate. "I'm really excited. I can't wait to see inside of a giant candy factory! I hope to receive the lifetime supply of chocolate."

"Where is your ticket now?" The reporter asked when the child didn't show them the ticket right away.

Augustus dug through some wrappers before he held up a shiny piece of gold with a bite taken out of it.

"I was eating my chocolate like normal when I bit into this bar. It's taste was different. I've tried every type Wonka bar there is and I had never tasted anything so metallic before. I thought that maybe there was an extra piece of foil on it but the taste was not right for that either. I spit it out and knew exactly what it was! I had won the first golden ticket!"

The interviewer continued to talk to Augustus before they were interrupted by a larger news station arriving. At that point, Willy switched the tv off.

"Well, he really seems to like your chocolate," Harry said.

"Who would let a child eat that much?" Willy asked no one in particular. "Being large or somewhat overweight isn't bad, but the gluttony that those parents allow Augustus to indulge in is unhealthy and nearly neglectful."

"Neglectful?" Harry asked.

"They just allow him to continue eating without thinking of his well being," Willy said. "I just hope that he also eats something other than chocolate because while chocolate is the most amazing food in the world, it isn't healthy enough to keep someone alive."

"Should we start doing some research on him?" Harry asked. "He's got to be magical somehow or he wouldn't have been able to find a ticket no matter how much chocolate he eats every day."

"Breakfast first," Willy instructed his excited son.

"Are we going to eat chocolate for breakfast?" Harry asked with a grin in reference to Augustus Gloop's favorite food.

"Harry!" Willy put his hand over his heart in false offense. "I am a chocolate maker, not a heathen. The very thought that I could raise my son to not know the chocolate eating clock! I have failed you."

Harry was nearly crying with laughter at his father's antics.

"You ought to know very well that,"

"You only eat chocolate before nine AM if it's baked in something," Harry said through his laughter, cutting his father's words off. "So, chocolate caramel pancakes?"

"That sounds like a perfect plan!" Willy said and the two headed off to the kitchen.

The Gloop family has been declared squibs for three generations. If no one in the next generation of Gloops possesses magic, the family will be considered dead in wizarding society and declared muggles.

"Why does the German Ministry of Magic even have records like these?" Harry asked.

The two Wonkas had spent nearly six hours looking for answers before they came across the German Magical Family Record Book.

"I'd say that most communities have these odd books," Willy said. "I'm just surprised that we are able to view this one."

"I don't think that very many people would be able to access it," Harry said. "It's just a good thing that the German Magical President likes your chocolate!"

"Everybody enjoys chocolate occasionally," Willy said.

"What about dogs and cats?" Harry asked.

"Except dogs and cats," Willy corrected himself. "It's poisonous to them."

"Charlie!" Harry yelled as he ran through the door of Charlie's apartment. "Did you hear?"

Charlie looked up from the table where he was sitting doing some reading that was assigned over the break.

"Hear what?"

"The first ticket was found in Germany!"

"What!?" Charlie yelled. "That means that there are only five left. Only four that people can actually find."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "We're going to wait for one more to be found before Harry Fickelberg finds a ticket."

The two friends spent time together doing various things to pass the time while they made a backstory for their made up character that Harry would be giving life on the tour and the interviews that came before it.

"You should draw a picture of Fickelberg," Charlie suggested.

"It'll just be me," Harry said, but he was already getting out his sketchbook from his bag.

"It would still help with visualizing," Charlie quoted their transfiguration teacher who always required them to draw a picture of something before he would transfigure a random item into what his students had drawn.

"I think you just like watching me draw," Harry swatted his best friend's arm with a smile.

"Maybe I do," Charlie said. "But you are really good at it. If you weren't going to run a giant candy factory I'd say that you should be an artist when you grow up."

Harry informed Charlie that he wouldn't be running "a" giant candy factory. He would be running the Wonka Chocolate Factory which was the best in the world and always would be. After Charlie apologized and corrected himself, Harry started drawing. One of the reasons that Harry was so interesting to watch while he was drawing was because he was a good artist. The other reason was because of Harry himself. When he was fully engrossed in his art, Harry's hair would change its color and look depending on what he was drawing. At times, Harry would even partially morph into a character he was sketching.

"We still need to come up with a believable backstory," Charlie said. "One that you can say in interviews."

They decided, after talking over the details for two hours, that Harry Fickelberg would be from a town over from where the Fickelgruber factory was located. He would be the son of Dr. Drew Fickelberg who's a dentist. Willy would play the part of Drew for the interviews, but they would still have to think of a way for Harry to have an adult accompany him at the factory.

Harry had decided, without yet telling Charlie, that Harry Fickelberg would know Charlie from school. Fickelberg attended as a boarding student while Charlie returned home daily. Because the school that both boys really did attend was magical and off all non-magical records, no one would have any way to check on the validity of that information.

Harry Fickelberg, the boys decided, found himself lucky to be able to go to the factory because his father, the dentist, hated chocolate and anything else sugary. That would be a good explanation as to why his father wouldn't be accompanying him. Harry Fickelberg had been buying chocolate with his allowance money without his father knowing. Dr. Drew Fickelberg wouldn't have allowed his son to even go on the tour, but due to all of the press coverage over it, he feared for his public image if he didn't allow his son to go.

The picture that Harry drew while he and Charlie were talking depicted a sad boy. His black hair hung more limp than Harry's would ever naturally be. The hair partially covered sad, multicolored eyes. The boy's shoulders were slouched just the tiniest bit forward betraying a bit of sad, silent rebellion under his near perfect posture. A hand not belonging to the boy was clamped onto his shoulder. The picture was of a desperate child that needed freedom and acceptance.

"Do you think that that's good enough?" Charlie asked.

"I think so," Harry said as he put his drawing supplies back in his bag. "I mean, people are supposed to think that I'm a spy, so my character has to seem kind of fake, right? I mean, not as fake as the flavorings that Slugworth uses in his raspberry filled dark chocolate, but still pretty fake."

Charlie's stomach grumbled, distracting Harry from whatever he might have said about the false quality of Slugsorth's ingredients.

"Do you want to go and eat?" Harry asked.

"I'm really not that hungry," Charlie tried to assure his friend. "I ate last night."

Harry picked up his bag and pulled out a small picnic basket. Inside of it was sandwiches and other picnicy items.

"Oh," Harry said. "I thought that we could have a picnic in the garden so I brought sandwiches. But if you don't want them I guess I can just eat what I can of them and throw the rest away."

"No, no," Charlie said. "We can have a picnic if you want to. But only if you want to."

The boys made their way outside to the gardens and began to eat their lunch amongst the flowers that seemed to bloom all year. While they were out there, another resident of the apartments came out.

"Did you hear?" The young woman who lived two apartments over from Charlie asked.

"Hear?"

"About the tickets," the woman clarified.

"Oh yeah," Charlie said. "The first one was found in Germany."

"No, not that," the young woman became excited with the knowledge that she was able to tell the boys something new. "Another one was just found!"

Harry jumped up in surprise. He hadn't anticipated two being found that close together. He knew that his father would be expecting him at home, though.

"I've got to go," Harry said as he picked up his bag and headed for the floo network. "See you later Charlie!"

Harry disappeared behind the corner of the building that led to the floo fireplace. That left Charlie and the young woman alone with a half full picnic basket in the garden.

"What was that about?" The young woman asked.

"Him and his dad love Wonka chocolate more than anything else in the world. They're keeping a record of all the tickets found."

"Wait," the woman said after thinking for a moment. "You two aren't brothers?"

"Not by blood," Charlie said before picking up the picnic basket to carry into his apartment. "See you later ma'm!"

—

Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the living quarter of the factory and took off in a sprint.

"Dad!" His call was unanswered.

He ran around the living quarters from room to room, but found the rooms abandoned.

Harry then went to the piece of paper on his dad's desk in the office. He wrote "Willy Wonka," on the paper before channeling a bit of his magic into it. The paper glowed green, brown, and gold before Willy's name glowed purple, brown and silver and sunk into the paper. The paper then displayed the words "Inventing Room," in a purple ink and Willy's handwriting.

Harry knew from experience that Willy's talisman would heat up. Willy's talisman was nearly identical to the one that Harry wore around his ankle. Willy wore his on a chain around his neck. Willy had had the talismans made after Harry had gotten lost in a store they were visiting. They were less intrusive than tracking charm as either Wonka could remove them at any time. They also heated up when they were in use and only the two of them could use them due to them being keyed to their magical signatures. They also heated up when the other was in trouble which had come in handy multiple times.

Harry ran to the great glass elevator and stood on his toes to press the button for the Inventing Room. He would always be naturally on the short side, but that didn't bother him too much due to his metamorphmagus abilities. The elevator shot off in the direction of the Inventing Room. If Harry hadn't been so accustomed to traveling that way, he would have fallen over.

Harry looked through the glass bottom and sides of the elevator at the factory he called home. It had expanded in the five and a half years that he had lived there. More rooms were being added almost all the time, seemingly on a whim. Despite the near randomness of the rooms, they all serves some purpose or another. The purposes were obvious to Harry and Willy, but to an outsider it would probably look like chaos.

After whizzing through the passages of the factory, the elevator finally came to a stop in the corner of the Inventing Room. Harry jumped out and searched around the room before his eyes landed on his father.

"It happened again," Harry ran over, careful not to disturb any of the sensitive experiments. "Someone found another ticket!"

"Who? What? When? Where? And Why?" Willy asked, looking like a mad scientist with a lab coat and safety goggles on and a flask with bright liquid in his hand.

"I'm not sure, one of the tickets that we put in the chocolate bars, just a bit ago, I think, and because they could?" Harry tried to answer all of the questions.

"Well then," Willy set the flask down on a table near him. "We should go and figure out an exact answer to all of those questions then, shouldn't we?"

"Yep!" Harry said and began to make his way back to the elevator. He got half way there before realizing that his father wasn't following him. "Where are you going?"

"I took the tunnels here," Willy said. "I need to take the boat back."

"You took a boat?" There was no emotion in Harry's voice as he said those words.

"One of the ones with an anti tipping charm," Willy confirmed.

"You can't take a boat," Harry insisted. "Not alone. What if, what if something had happened while I was gone? I could have come home and never saw you again. You could die too!"

Tears were in Harry's eyes at that point. His breathing was growing faster.

"Starshine," Willy said. "I know that you're scared and it's ok to be scared. If you weren't scared then I would be scared. But you have to remember that you can't just live your life being scared. You have to face your fear head on, look at it and say,"

"I'm going with you," Harry cut his father off.

"That wasn't what I was going to say that you say," Willy said. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"You can't go by yourself," Harry insisted. "If something happened then no one would be there but if I'm there then, well, I don't know."

"Harry, I don't think that this is a good idea," Willy looked at Harry's tear filled eyes. He didn't usually give into Harry's begging, but this was different. "Ok. But I'm going to give you a portkey and if you get to scared, you have to take it to the living quarters."

Harry nodded but inwardly decided that he wouldn't take it.

The two walked out to the boat. It was a small row boat with just enough room for two people. Willy let Harry get in first. His legs were shaky, but he managed to make it to he seat. He accepted the small bouncy ball portkey that his father handed to him and filed away the activation word, fizzy, just in case he needed to use it.

Willy got into the boat next to his son and with one more unsure look in Harry's direction, he pushed off into the dark river.

The boat went through the water like a warm knife cutting through butter. Willy made sure that all of the turns were as smooth as possible. Despite the gentleness of the ride, Harry still found himself clinging to his father's arm with every small wave. In a few minutes, though it felt like hours to Harry, the boat came to a stop and the two chocolatiers disembarked. Harry put the small portkey in his pocket.

After putting the boat away, Harry and Willy made there way into the living quarters to learn more about the next winner of the ticket.

"Veruca Salt," Harry said. "Isn't a verruca a type of wart?"

"One that you get on your foot," Willy agreed. "Very painful and very contagious."

"Have you ever gotten one?"

"No, but my housemate's aunt once got one. He was so terrified of contracting one that he refused to take a shower for a week! Finally out head of house had to make him."

The two chocolate makers had just finished watching two news casts of the second ticket winner. Veruca had a smile of false sweetness on her face in both of them. She wasn't from the United States, and they were struggling to find any magical information on her. The non-magical information, though, was easy to learn.

"We'll have to try some of Mr. Salt's nuts before him and Veruca come to the factory," Harry said.

"I don't know Harry," Wonka smiled. "They might be a bit too salty for my taste!"

After giving up for the time being on finding any more information on Veruca, the two decided to talk about more important issues.

"Charlie and I've almost completed the plan," Harry said. "We just have one detail that we can't figure out."

"And what detail is that?"

"You," Harry told his father the plan.

"So I get to be a dentist?" Willy morphed into an older, stricter looking man. His hair was close to being all grey and his face was sharper. His eyes changed to a different shade of brown than they were before. All in all, he looked little like his normal cheerful self or his son. "The only thing candy is good for is bringing in new patients," Willy tested out his persona. After saying the words, his disguise dropped. "I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I turned into my father."

"You don't have to do it!" Harry said. He had forgotten the hard feelings between his father and grandfather. "We can come up with a different disguise."

"It's fine Starshine," Willy said. "This plan is well thought out and makes sense. Besides, I'm over it now."

Harry thought otherwise on the last part. If Willy was over being as good as disinherited, he wouldn't still tense up every time his father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, was mentioned.

"We'll have to find an adult for you to go with on the tour," Willy pursed his lips in thought. "Maybe you could go with whichever one of Charlie's parents takes him on the tour," Willy said. "Charlie and you are still friends in your made up story, after all."

Harry agreed with the idea. All that was left in there plan was for Harry to find the golden ticket. A trip to the town near the Fickelgruber factory was in order within the next week.

Harry had little idea of the media mess that he was about to become entangled in.

Author's Note: Sorry that update took so long. I was trying to get my newest story off of the ground and I just kept getting more and more inspiration for it that I had to stop myself from writing it and force myself to update this. I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Not a lot happened to Harry in it, but he'll really get thrown into the thick of things next chapter.

How involved do you want Dr. Wonka to be in this story? I've brought him up a few times now.

This chapter was a reverse birthday present for you all!

Please review!

-Aniala (catz4444)