Disclaimer: Despite my numerous break-in attempts on the Burton compound, Willy Wonka still remains out of my reach and therefore isn't mine. Oh, and I don't own the Wizard of Oz, either…

AN: Wow, I can't believe people like this story so much! Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews; it makes me feel so happy!

Chapter 6: Return to the Factory:

Before her high school graduation, Astra received some wonderful and unexpected news from her parents. Of course, at the time, it didn't appear to be wonderful, as both her parents were sitting around the dinner table, talking quietly when she returned home from school. It was unusual for them to be home from work so early, so the situation somewhat alarmed the young woman and nearly caused her to panic.

"Mom? Dad? Is something wrong?" she asked. "Did something happen?"

"No, no, nothing's happened, sweetie," her father replied, smiling a bit as he stood up. "Your mom and I just got some unexpected news from an old friend." He motioned for her to sit down.

"What news?" she pressed, wanting to know more. "And what friend, exactly?"

"I'll go get your brother and we can talk about it."

With that said, Robert headed out the door and fetched his son, towing him away from his video games and sitting him down at the dinner table across from his sister. After both parents exchanged a look, Caroline motioned for him to speak first.

"Kids, your mom and I just received a letter from Willy Wonka, asking us to come and visit him in England for a while," Robert said, looking from his son to his daughter.

"We're going to England?" cried Astra at the same time Mitchell said, "We're going to go see Willy Wonka?"

"Yes, we're going to England, mostly because your Uncle Wonka is paying for the entire trip himself and he wants very much to see the two of you kids again," Caroline said, her dark eyes sparkling. "We leave three weeks after Astra's graduation ceremony. And don't tell anyone; we don't want people and television stations hounding us because we're going to visit Willy Wonka."

Both teenagers nodded their understanding and headed off to their rooms to prepare for the trip.

The week before graduation is supposed to go quickly for senior high school students. It's tradition that they skip school, prank the principal's office, and egg the cars of the teachers. However, Astra was one of the few seniors that actually showed up for the last pointless week of school. This was not because she had to; no, it was because it was the only way she could have some quiet time to herself.

The reason school was currently her sanctuary was because the house was now her parents' center of operations, both of which had picked the worst time to take a week off of work and plan their family trip to England. Mitchell was in school for the next two weeks because his vacation started a week after Astra's; that would leave poor Astra alone and open to whatever torture their parents might come up with to keep her busy during the week she was supposed to be sleeping in, watching late night television, and hanging out with her friends. The only thing that comforted her was that her reward for this needless week of school (and the torment afterwards) was that she was going to visit the greatest chocolate factory in the world.

Finally, graduation day arrived, and after the caps had been tossed in the air and the diplomas had been handed out, the senior class was allowed to go their own ways. Some were hustled onto buses headed for the class trip to a nearby waterpark while others were allowed to go to their own planned parties. Astra herself was hustled into the family car before she could say goodbye to her friends, though they all shouted promises to get together during the summer. Once home, she was practically dragged into the family room and shoved onto the couch, her parents bearing large, happy grins on their faces. That sort of scared her, but the airline tickets pressed into her palm more than erased that fear from her mind.

"You and I are going to England before your mom and Mitch, pumpkin," her father said, beaming. "Just you and me running all over and enjoying ourselves before the other two join us after Mitch goes on vacation in two weeks. You and I leave tomorrow. Happy graduation, Astra!"

Astra could only smile.

From the moment the plane took off to the moment it landed, Astra felt the butterflies in her stomach attacking everything from her spine to her throat. She couldn't believe that she was going to visit a man she hadn't seen since she was five-years-old, a man she had once worshiped and loved like an uncle. Would he remember her? Well, that was a silly thought; the man had invited them over for a visit, after all! Would he have done that if he hadn't remembered them? Well, it wouldn't really surprise her; he was an eccentric chocolatier, after all. Sighing, Astra looked out the window of the plane as it landed at the airport.

An hour later, Robert and Astra Johnson were comfortably situated in a cozy little bed and breakfast close to the factory. Astra privately wondered why Willy Wonka hadn't asked them to stay in his tremendous factory; from what she could see from her window, the place was huge and should have at least a dozen guestrooms! Mostly, though, she figured that it would be intruding too much on the poor isolated germaphobe; after all, he didn't like to be touched, so why would he let people sleep in and dirty up his factory? Not to mention the idea of four people showering in his home would likely cause him to faint or have a heart attack!

"Well, we'd better head to the factory," her father suddenly said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Astra blinked. "What?" He did not just say that…did he?

Her father grinned. "Willy has been looking forward to seeing you for a long time, pumpkin, so he asked me to bring you over as soon as I could. What do you say?"

She didn't need to say anything, precisely. The squeal of excitement coming from her mouth was enough to send the birds on the windowsill flying for the skies.

Standing in front of the mirror half an hour later, straightening her short-sleeved red blouse and black dress pants, Astra took a deep breath. It was a good thing she'd taken a dress outfit for the occasion; she wanted so badly to make a good first impression after all of these years. The memories of her uncle were fuzzy at best, but she always remembered lots of affection and kindness, as well as generosity. What would he remember best about her, after nearly thirteen years without seeing one another? Taking one last deep breath, Astra headed out the door with her father.

It was a fifteen-minute walk from the inn they were staying at to the entrance of the factory, but Astra could clearly see the outline of the tremendous building from where she was on the sidewalk. Even though she had been there when the factory opened and had been inside when she was very small, she couldn't remember a thing that lay behind the doors with the large "W's" on them. It was an impressive structure, and she couldn't help but wonder who else lived in the factory to keep the poor chocolatier company. Today, she hoped to get answers to her endless list of questions.

Instructions given to her father had stated that, to avoid the press or public getting wind of their visit, the Johnson's were to go to a back entrance that was marked by a bright berry bush so that they could find it. Astra was a bit skeptical when she only saw the bush itself and nothing else except stone walls and a meadow behind it, but when a section of the wall slid open to reveal a tiny man in a black space suit, she skipped past skeptical and went straight to excited.

"Hello!" she cheerfully said, kneeling down to the eyelevel of the little man. "Well aren't you cute?"

"Uh, Astra, I really don't think you should-" Robert cut off his own sentence when the strange little man simply smiled happily at his daughter and held a hand out to shake.

Astra smiled and held out her hand before she realized that her palm alone could probably envelope the entire arm of this tiny being. Instead, she held out her pinky finger, which was happily accepted as a substitute. The two "shook hands," and once they were finished, the little man took his hand back, crossed his wrists over his chest, and bowed. Confused, Astra repeated the motion and smiled. The tiny man smiled back and motioned for them to follow him inside.

The journey into the factory was uneventful and quite dull. Astra and her father gladly followed the tiny man through the vast empty space between the rear gate and the factory, eventually going though a very large metal door that was painted purple and had a large gold "W" engraved on it. It was a very impressive door, one that made people feel a bit insignificant as they stood before it. For a moment, Astra felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, standing before the imposing gates of the Emerald City and waiting to see what sort of magical wonders stood beyond it. And in the back of her mind, she knew that there was an even greater wizard than any author could come up with behind the doors of the Wonka Chocolate Factory…

Astra grew increasingly nervous as they walked, passing one multi-colored door after another, all of them leading to rooms like the Marshmallow Pillows Room, the Spun Sugar Clouds Room, and the Candied Apple Trees Room. They all sounded so amazing and tasty that Astra wanted to see each and every one, but the little man wouldn't stop walking. So, rather than be left behind or risk getting lost, she stayed close to their guide, inhaling the scents that managed to escape the rooms they passed by.

Finally, the tiny man stopped at the end of a long hallway and turned around. Astra watched as he made a dozen signs and did her best to interpret them.

"What's he saying?" her father asked, head tilted to the side in puzzlement.

Astra watched carefully and did her best to translate. "I think he said the hallway narrows down and…gets smaller?" That couldn't be right, but from the way the little man was nodding, she'd guessed right. He continued on. "I think he said it's like an optical illusion and that we shouldn't be afraid as we follow him."

They continued walking down the hall, and sure enough, they noticed that the walls were beginning to close in on them. Astra was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic when their guide pointed to the tiniest door Astra had ever seen. It was big enough to slide a person's arm through, but no more than that. She looked down at the little man, an eyebrow raised in question as to what to do next. He simply smiled and motioned for her to push the door open. Shrugging, Astra did as she was told, placing a hand on the door and giving it a good shove. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head as the wall turned into two humongous doorways and showed her Paradise.

It was an indoor meadow, but the look of it screamed "man-made." Everything seemed to have a sugary glaze or glisten to them, and the air smelled of a dozen different scents, including sugar, chocolate, mint, and even a touch of honey. The grass was greener than anything she'd ever seen, and the trees seemed to be made out of peppermint taffy or some sort of hard candy. There were giant mushrooms that seemed to be made out of marshmallow, with whipped frosting in small little cups dug into them. It was a perfect candy haven, and it looked amazingly delicious.

She took in the scents and sights as she heard her father gasp. Not wanting to simply stand around and stare, she began to walk off to explore the room. Astra found their little tour guide standing next to her, pointing to the flowers and indicating that she should try some. Thinking it was a joke, she shook her head; the last time someone had told her to eat grass and she had obeyed was when she had been six and didn't know any better.

"I'd rather not have grass stuck in my teeth," she said, a slight laugh in her voice as she talked to the small man. "But thanks all the same."

He simply gave her a mock-frown and repeated the gestures in a more aggressive manner. Deciding to humor him, Astra plucked a tiny red flower and gave one of the petals a tiny nibble. The sweet taste of cherries exploded on her tongue and a large grin spread across her face. She popped the rest of the flower petals into her mouth and plucked a few more before she heard two male voices conversing behind her. Turning around, she saw her father standing next to a man that could only be Willy Wonka.

From a distance of about twenty feet, she could see that he hadn't changed at all in the time they'd been separated, though his clothes appeared to be a tiny bit more…subdued than before. Gone were the bright purples and pinks he had worn when she was a child, his tastes now flowing towards maroon, dark purple, and black. There was a brightly decorated cane in one of his hands, the other hand motioning frantically about as he spoke to her father. It appeared that they were catching up on old times and she didn't want to disturb them.

Instead, Astra sat on the incredibly green grass and began to take tiny tastes of whatever was in reach. However, she didn't want to overdo it, so she simply contented herself with whatever was nearby. Apparently, the little man had a sixth sense about what caught her interest, and didn't hesitate to go and fetch things she seemed too shy or hesitant to try and get for herself. Her little Exploration of Everything Tasty Nearby was interrupted by someone calling her name. Looking up, she saw her father smiling and waving at her, motioning her to come over to him.

"Astra, come say hello to Willy Wonka," her father called.

Smiling, Astra set down the flowers she had pulled and walked over to stand beside her father, facing Willy. "Hello. It's nice to see you again," she softly said, smiling shyly at the eccentrically dressed man in front of her. Without thinking, she held out her hand for him to shake.

Willy simply stood and stared, intense violet eyes focused on her face.

AN: Please let me know how this chapter went! More to follow soon, promise!