Disclaimer:Again, nothing is mine….and sorry for the mental image of Crabbe with braids.

Chapter 4

They stood before a great forest, thick with trees and underbrush. The path had become smaller, surrounded by tree trunks as thick as erumpent legs, and silvery brambles with bright red flowers.

Sirius looked rather frightened. "You know..." he said, backing away slightly, "I'm not too sure that this is worth just getting a heart... I mean, there's loads of dryads out there... I don't think I'll be..."

"Oh come off it," said Remus, grabbing him by the arm and pushing him into the woods. "Take a risk once and awhile, or you'll rust up again."

As soon as he entered the forest, the lights seemed to dim. It went from bright and sunny to practically dusk in two footsteps. There were no birds singing, just a heavy, humid silence, with strange growls and murmurs interrupting every once and awhile.

Remus was in the lead, brandishing the Staff of Sneakiness. Although he put on a brave front, there was something about the forest that made his back crawl. Sirius was in the middle, his eyes darting about and walking stiffly. James, who was taking up the rear, jumped frightfully when Padfoot's tail hit him.

"Yikes!" he fell forward into Remus. "A lion just hit me with it's tail! A lion! We need to turn back!"

"A lion." said Remus skeptically. Sirius had whipped out his axe, and was whirling around every few seconds as if he were about to be attacked.

"Yes a lion." James retorted, drawing himself up, dignified. "This is the Forbidden Forest of Foz! There's a whole bunch of dirty great things living in here...werewolves, acromantulas...and Basilisks!

"Werewolves and spiders and snakes. Oh my." said Remus sarcastically, pushing them both forward. "There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Even if there were things like that in here, we've got Sirius's ax, and I could always beat it with the staff."

Just as those words came out of his mouth, a great tawny lion came leaping out from behind a tree and sent James sprawling.
"See!" shrieked James, struggling frantically under the lion's bulk. "I told you there was a lion, I told you!"

The lion batted James's head away from his body, then swiped, roaring, at Sirius. It did not make a mark of any kind, but the force of the blow made him fall hard on his metallic backside.

Remus leaped out of the way as the lion came towards him...just as Padfoot came running in front of him, barking like a maddog. The lion snarled at the dog, and went to bite it. With as much force as he could muster, he heaved the staff against the lion's head.

It almost completely missed it He did, however, manage to clip the beast across the nose. The lion, instead of roaring, let out a loud squeak that sounded like a rodent being trodden on and dove back into the underbrush.

James's body was leaping around, still trying to escape, as his head called out for help and cursed it's body for running away and leaving him there. Sirius was still sitting on his bottom, and seemed unable to rise again.

Padfoot went over to his human counterpart and began to nudge him to his feet, while Remus helped James, peering behind the bushes trying to find the lion that had attacked him. Why on earth had it run away after he had merely bonked its nose? Shouldn't it have attacked?

"I wasn't afraid." James said nonchalantly, stuffing straw back into his shirt. "Just lost my head for a minute there."

Sirius began to brush his silvery robes off, scowling furiously. "Barking." he fumed. "Barking mad. What a stupid creature, jumping on innocent travelers like that, and then just hopping away. Hit and run, that's what it is. We'll have to complain to the Wizard about this...and on the Golden Stone Road too!"

Remus had begun to poke around behind the tree where the lion had disappeared. After a few moments, the staff connected with something, and the lion squeaked loudly and rolled out from under a bush.

He looked fearfully around at the three of them, fidgeting something awful, and putting a paw up to his nose and twitching his whiskers fretfully.

"He looks more like a mouse than a lion." said Sirius in disgust.

In truth, the lion bore a strange resemblance to Peter in his animagus form. It's eyes were watery and small, his tail was more ratlike than lionish, and he had a very small mane. When it spoke, it's whiny voice even sounded exactly like Peter.
"Why did you have to hit me!" he sniveled. "I didn't do anything!"

"You were going to bite Padfoot!" Remus shouted. The lion put its paws to its ears and moaned fitfully. "Oh, don't shout! Please don't shout, it gives me such an awful headache."

Yes, the lion was indeed Peter. Remus decided.

"We'll shout if we feel the need to." Sirius snarled. "Why did you attack us? We were just walking!"

Peter scooted away from Sirius on his backside, his eyes shifting from side to side. "Well...I...er, what I mean to say is.." he stammered. "Step 6 of the 7-step program is to do something brave...and I figured if I could do number 6...then, well...doing 1-5 would be easy!"

James and Sirius exchanged looks. Then James and Remus exchanged looks. And then, just for fun, Sirius exchanged looks with a passing bug.

In the meanwhile, Peter had been about to sneak away, but Padfoot promptly sat on his tail. Peter looked as if he were about to burst into tears.

"Oi, did you know you're a coward?' asked James conversationally, putting his hands on his knees and surveying Peter with interest. Lion-Peter really did burst into tears at that, and James fell backwards, startled.

"Yes!' Peter wailed, patting his eyes dry with his tail. "I know I'm a coward! I can't even get a drink of water without running away from my reflection! And here I am, supposed to be the King of the Jungle...I couldn't even be King of...of...of this rock!" He put his paw on a large rock and sobbed pitifully.

"Well...mate..." began Sirius, looking flabbergasted "We didn't mean to...I mean...er...that is..."

James poked Remus "Let's just leave him here," he whispered loudly. "We need to move on..."

"No!" squealed Peter, leaping to his feet. "Don't leave me here alone! If my support group finds out I haven't done a single brave thing...they'll kick me out!" He sniffled.

Remus looked down at the sorry creature who was clutching the hem of his robes. "Well...I guess you could come with us, if you want to..." he began hesitantly.

Peter's eyes lit up. "Really!" he exclaimed, overjoyed. He jumped up, still clutching his tail.

"Sure," replied James, after Remus nudged him firmly. "We were just on our way to see the Wizard of Foz, so..."

"The wizard!" Peter paled. "On second thought, I'll just stay here." he went to run behind a tree, but Padfoot growled as the lion tried to escape. Fearfully, Peter shrank away, then looked at Remus pitifully.

"I think you had better come with us." said Sirius disapprovingly, nudging the hapless lion with his silvery toe.

"We're off to see the wizard!" said James brightly, pointing north dramatically.

"The wonderful Wizard of Foz!" Remus agreed, starting off. "It'll be a piece of cake."

Snape looked into his cauldron sourly, the laughter of the scarecrow still echoing in the room. The image showed the four walking along the forest path, almost to the edge of the forest. He needed that staff...and if they got to the Wizard, well then all bets were off. Angrily he flung a couple herbs into the cauldron and the picture faded, leaving a sour, yellowish liquid in its wake.

"I need something to impede their progress," he murmured. "Crabbe, fetch me my wand."

The lackey he had inherited from the Wicked Wizard of the East made vague monkey sounds as he humped his way over to the desk. Snape watched, irritated, as the wings he had magicked onto his lackey got caught several times in the chandeliers before Crabbe made it to the desk and gave him his wand.
"Thank you." Snape sneered, pushing up his sleeves. "Now, to stop them. I guess I'll use poison...yes, poison rain." He ran over to his bookshelves and began to look through the titles eagerly. "It will fall down and pierce their skin, and burn off their hair, and rust that infernal tin man..."

"Oh, does it really have to be so...icky?" came the lilting voice of Nadine the dryad as she stepped out from behind the curtain. Snape sighed in frustration. He was heartily regretting bringing the dryad back in the first place. "Yes, it does. If you want to be included in an evil organization, you have to deal with the little unpleasantries."

"But..." she looked mournfully at a vase of flowers. "Can't it be pretty and evil?"

"What?" exclaimed Snape, slamming the book down on the table. "It's poison! It's not supposed to be pretty!"

Nadine fluttered her eyelashes at him and pouted sweetly. "How about flowers? They're pretty, and they smell nice."

Snape crossed his arms. "Like what? Daisies? Hyacinths? Poppies?" He paused, his eyebrows knitted thoughtfully. "Yes...poppies...now there's an idea. They'd sink into eternal slumber…or at least an eternal somewhat drugged state. I wouldn't have to worry about them meddling, and I wouldn't get in trouble with the League of Weather Wizards dealing in acid rain..."

He scuttled over to a tapestry in the corner and conjured up an image of a field. "So," he began, gleefully pulling out his wand. "Once they get out of that field, they'll fall prey to the not-so-deadly, yet oh-so-effective scent of my poppies..."

He began to make short stabbing motions with his wand, and flowers began to appear on the tapestry. Soon, the whole field was covered in a blanket of the red poppies.

"Sevvy!" cried Nadine from the corner. "I didn't know you were a gardener!"

Snape did an amazing combination of a cringe, wince and grimace (a crimacince) and turned to look at her, scowling deeply. "I am not a gardener. I just happen to be a great wizard."

"A wonderful wizard." she agreed, nodding happily as she bounced back and forth on her heels. "The wonderful wizard of Foz!"

Snape wondered whether it would be easier to poison her or himself. "Oh sod off." He scowled. Nadine threw her arms around his waist and gave him a squeeze. "I don't know what that means."

"Oi look, we're out of the forest! We made it to the other side!" said James happily, running into the clearing. "Oooh, and look!" He pointed far off into the distance, where a tall scarlet tower spiraled on the horizon. The rest of his company paused to stare. "It's beautiful.." said Remus. "And look gentlemen, a red carpet for our arrival!"

He gestured out towards the field of poppies. "Bet the Wizard's a Gryffindor…gold and red pathway to his city."

"What's a Gryffindor?" asked Peter fearfully. "Are they very fearsome?"

"Not terribly." Replied Remus.

"I'll race you all to the city!" cried Sirius, who had been recently oiled. He tore off, Padfoot racing eagerly behind him. Remus and James jogged after him, laughing. Peter scampered after them, looking into the air for Gryffindors.

After a few moments, Remus had to stop. He yawned, and motioned for the others to stop. "Merlin, I'm tired. Give me a minute to rest." He sat down among the poppies and laid down. "Hey look at the clouds!" Padfoot yawned as only a dog can, and snuffled Remus's robes, lying down next to him. Peter collapsed next to him, snoring.

"Well, this is odd." Said James, nonplussed. He prodded Remus. "Come on, get up lazybones, we're almost there."

Remus did not respond. Frantically he pulled Peter's tail and tweaked Padfoot's ears. "Wake up! Come on, don't go to sleep!"

He looked at Sirius, looking scared. "This is a spell! It must be!"

"Betcha it's Snape." Said Sirius fiercely, clenching his fists.
"We have to wake them up!" James moaned, looking around for something to help him. After a moment of fruitless searching, they looked at each other, then both chorused "Help! Help! Haaalp!"

"Please?" James added, looking up and the clouds.

"Haloooo!" called Sirius "We need help here!"

"Yes. This I can see," came Lily's voice from the sky. Her face was projected on the clouds above, and looked down on them disapprovingly.
"Hey there, Mrs. Scarecrow." Said James, throwing her a wink.

"You disgust me." She said scathingly.

"Ha!" said Sirius preening. "You have to be a sterling specimen to pass such fine judgment. Aren't I right, Your Hotness?"

Lily looked positively furious. "You are both chauvinistic, helpless….men" she sputtered. "And if it weren't for the fact that Remus needs my help, I'd leave you both here to fall to ruins."

James looked very injured. "Well that's nice of her."

Sirius pursed his lips. "Must be that time of the month "

Lily made an outraged sound and disappeared. In her place, large snowflakes began to fall, and an awful wind blew past, chilling the pair of them.

"Interesting turn of events," James grinned. "The Wicked Slytherin gives us flowers, an the Good Gryffindor freezes us to death…"

"Oh you started it," snapped Sirius. "I'm going to stiffen up because of you…future Mrs. Scarecrow. No wonder you nee a brrrn." He began to apply his oil frantically to his joints as his jaw started to rust.

Remus shivered and sat up, yawning. "Why is it snowing?" he murmured.

"Interesting weather, this." said Peter lazily, sticking out his tongue to catch one of the flakes. Padfoot began to jump around as the flakes began to clump, barking happily.

"You know what," said Sirius looking skyward. "I don't think she's gonna stop it. We better run for it, or we'll be snowmen before we reach the Ruby City!"

His companions agreed, and with Padfoot at the lead, the four of them set off towards the castle in the distance.

"Outrageous!" seethed Snape, staring into his cauldron. "Impossible! Inconceivable! No matter what I do, he always manages to get away!"

Nadine patted his arm, smiling. "It's okay, look their almost to the Rub City!"

"No it's not okay!" he shouted, throwing her hands off him. "You stupid dryad!"

She frowned, looking wounded. "I was just trying to help…" tears appeared in her lovely eyes, and she pushed her leaves back over her shoulder.

"Well don't. Go make me a sandwich." Snape was looking in his cauldron again, as the four friends made it to the Great Gates. "Staff or no staff, Lupin, I have more power than you in my toes than you. I will get that staff."

Nadine sat unhappily in a corner, and began to braid Crabbe's hair.