Lottie Morgan decided to visit her Uncle Andrew and his family at Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Little did she know that she was about to enter a magical, delectable world and capture the heart of the sweetest of men.

"All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost."

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954

Based on the 2005 Tim Burton film, starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

Lottie sat by the chocolate waterfall, deep in thought. She loved nature, and, while this wasn't exactly "nature" in the strict, traditional sense, she oddly felt that this nature – with its chocolate waterfall, was more authentic than anything found outdoors walking along a river path.

It seemed so peaceful here, she thought, with the gentle roar of the chocolate gushing down from the top of the waterfall and crashing into the river. She looked across the huge room, and saw little warm glow in the window of the cottage Lottie knew that Mr. Wonka has transported into the factory. She faintly heard Joe telling one of this stories and everyone was laughing. Her parents, she thought to herself, were the same way, joking and laughing, and teasing her out of her natural shyness.

And yet what…what of him. That eccentric man? What would make someone choose candymaking as a profession. Her own profession flowed naturally out of her love of language and words. Although, she sighed to herself, she'd rather have become a poet, although unfortunately that profession wasn't very lucrative at all.. She lay back on the grass, enjoying just being there.

Willy Wonka was in the Great Glass Elevator after Charlie left him. Suddenly, looking down, he saw a little figure lying by his waterfall. What was this…person… doing? He squinted…that couldn't be an Oompa-Loompa, could it? No – it was her.

He hoped he hadn't made too much of a fool out of himself this morning, although he had the sneaking suspicion that, of course, he had. Just when he thought he was doing so much better with this…this…dealing with people thing, too. Willy just sighed to himself, wondering how to make it okay again.

He reasoned for a minute, and decided that she could benefit from learning a little more about this wonderful room she was inside instead of just sleeping. She was in a room entirely made of candy, and she was sleeping! That's no fun at all.

Willy descended from the great glass elevator and snuck up closer to the waterfall, peering behind a large bolder made of chocolate malt. He couldn't help but notice that she seemed so peaceful and…aesthetically pleasing… lying there. She reminded him of something, something far off, but he couldn't remember what exactly. Willy was intensely looking at this...person… and trying to figure her out.

Slowly, he slinked up just behind her and screamed, seeming to come out of nowhere, "My chocolate is churned by waterfall!"

"Ahh!" Lottie nearly jumped out of her skin and shrieked! Turning around, Lottie saw Mr. Wonka standing over her.

"Mr. Wonka, where did you come from!" she gasped.

"Oh, I just wanted to tell you all about my waterfall. You know, no other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall, and you can take that to the bank." He was looking so calm he thought that he might be in the middle of giving a tour.

He looked at her expectedly, waiting for an answer.

"Really? That's interesting…" she managed. She was actually still shaken.

Willy stood looking down at her for a moment and continued.

"Yeah, the waterfall is the most important part! It makes the chocolate light and frothy." The punctuated his sentence with hand gestures.

"Umm…that's really amazing, Mr. Wonka!" she exclaimed.

"You see those pipes," Mr. Wonka said, motioning for her to look up across the room. "Those pipes suck up the chocolate," he explained, "and carry it away, all over the factory."

She just looked up at him. She was out of breath from being scared half to death, she was very flushed, and yet he seemed singularly intent on giving her some sort of confectionary seminar.

"By the way, did you know that no other factory in world…"

"Mr. Wonka, pardon my interruption, but would you like to sit down?"

"Oh, err, 'kay," he said, looking at her a little hesitantly, and lowered himself on the grass. He had expected to simply give her a little impromptu tour of the room, and was a little unsure of what to do. If he had known he was going to actually have a conversation with her, he would have prepared notecards. After an awkward silence, he peeked over at her.

"So, um, you're Charlie's cousin?"

"Yep," replied Lottie. She tucked her brown hair behind her ears and looked over at him.

"I thought you were going to be, ya know, sort of like Charlie, but not a little boy, but a little girl."

"But I'm not a little girl," said Lottie.

"I can see that," said Willy.

"I mean, my mother is ten years older than Charlie's dad, so it's not so surprising that I'm older, too."

Willy thought about this for a little. "Well', he said matter-of-factly, "I suppose that sounds about right."

Lottie looked at his grimace and asked softly. "Are you disappointed with me?"

Willy winced. This is not what he meant at all and didn't mean to make her feel bad. "Oh, poppycock!" he dismissed her question.

"Ohhh! What are you reading?" Willy asked, picking up the book she held in her hands, he read the title, "The Hobbit."

Lottie blushed. "I'm a big fan of fantasy novels, I suppose, Mr. Wonka."

"Oh, really?" said Willy, intrigued. He smilingly flipped through the pages.

Lottie nodded her head. "Mystical places, where dreams come true, where wizards and elves work magic, where knights in shining armor rescue fair damsels in distress!" Lottie waxed poetic, closing her eyes.

"I mean, can you imagine it? Secret worlds, magic potions, a secret quest, mystical adventures! How wonderful – just to go on an adventure! Anything to dream away my mind-numbing, boring life, Mr. Wonka …" She stopped, horrified. What was she saying to him? She barely knew him? Had she no sense of propriety? Lottie thought she should maybe run away or something.

"Willy," he corrected quickly her.

"Willy," she repeated.

He pondered for a moment and simply said, "Well, my dear girl, just where exactly do you think you are right now?"

Lottie opened her eyes and timidly looked around the room. Then she looked at him and saw he was smiling kindly at her with those violet eyes. She blurted out, "I suppose you're absolutely right!"

"Why, of course, I am!" said Willy, just looking at her with an enigmatic grin.

Willy and Lottie sat pensively for a moment, just looking at the gentle splash of the waterfall as it rolled into the stream. Lottie looked sideways at Willy.

"There's only one thing missing, I think?"

"What's that?" asked Mr. Wonka, beginning to worry.

"There are no stars at night in your factory, Mr. Wonka, did you know? Although there's a lake, trees, grass, and a waterfall, but there are no stars in the sky."

Willy listened thoughtfully, taking out his notepad and a pen. "Well," he began, "I suppose I could get some crystallized sugar and set up a large type of telescope on the roof of the factory. By getting precise calculations, I could mimic the path of the constellations, and the sugar…"

Lottie sat up straight, exasperated. "I was just joking, Mr. Wonka!" giggled Lottie, playfully tapping his arm. "Really, your chocolate factory is…wonderful."

Willy looked at the smiling Lottie, whose eyes seemed daring and timid all at the same moment, and his eyes shined back at her. He thought she smelled like strawberry shortcake and lavender.

"Ya know, you can call me Willy."

"Okay, Willy," said Lottie sweetly. She cast her eyes down, flushing slightly, and concentrated intently on the grass she was sitting on.

"Oh, do you like my grass? Have a blade, please do. It's so delectable, it's so gosh darn good looking!"

Lottie looked at him in amazement.

"You mean, you can eat the grass?" she exclaimed. She hadn't thought of that.

"Why, my dear girl, of course you can!" He picked up a blade a grass and held it to her.

"Go on, just eat it."

Lottie tentatively took the blade from his fingers and took a little bite.

"Oh, my gosh, this is …delectable!"

"Told ya," joked Willy, with a satisfied grin.

Lottie smiled and looked down. Willy began to get slightly nervous and twitched a little, making a little grimace, looked away, and then looked at her again.

"Um…would you like a proper tour of my factory?"

"Okay."

"How 'bout tomorrow?"

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Wonka. I'd like that very much."

There was an awkward silence.

"'Kay," Willy said suddenly." See ya tomorrow then, Lottie," He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.