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Part 11: The Part where they finally meet the Wizard, (Finally)

Harry announced that they had just arrived outside the gates of the Ruby City. The small group of travelers looked up at the tall gate that held the entrance to the Ruby City and Hermione couldn't have been happier that they were finally there. She would immediately demand that they dismiss with certain parts of the movie…riding around in a carriage drawn by a horse that changes colour, for example. They could do without the boring part where they all get makeovers, especially as they were all now wearing regular clothing thanks to Ron.

They could do without the cowering in fear and the pretend awe at the fake 'Mighty Wizard of Oz' or in this case, 'Because' and she would suggest that they go find Umbridge's broom right off and then douse the old broad with a bucket of water to finish her off. Then they could all get what they needed, she could tap her heels together three times, and then they could all leave straight away.

As for herself, she felt her search was complete. She got what she came for, which wasn't what she thought in the beginning. At the start all she wanted was to go home. Now, all she wanted was to be with Draco. She looked at Draco's and suddenly she wanted to hold his hand.

After Harry announced their arrival at the gate, Hermione said, "Thank heavens. Ron, you pick up Crookshanks. Harry, you get our basket. Draco, please take my hand."

"Do you need encouragement to knock on the gate?" Draco asked, bringing her hand up to his mouth to place a kiss on her wrist. She felt all warm and mushy inside.

"No, I just want you to hold my hand," she revealed with a smirk to rival his any day. She knocked on the gate with her other hand.

A small grate at the top of the gate slid open to reveal a man's face. He asked, "What the hell do you lot want?"

"OH NO!" Hermione shouted. She turned to the others and said, "If he's the wizard, we had all better find another way home right now!"

The rest of the group reacted pretty much the same way. Draco recoiled in stunned surprise. Ron groaned aloud, appalled and shocked. Harry dropped his head in his hand and said, "Oh, Luna, please, what have you done now?"

"Well?" the man asked. "I obviously don't have all day. What the bloody blazes do you want?"

"Who are you?" Hermione demanded, dropping Draco's hand and pointing her finger in his face.

"What a rude, impertinent girl you've always been, Miss Granger," he snarled. "If I know who you are, surely you know me."

"Of course I know you, I just refuse to admit you're real, because you're not," Hermione said with exasperation. She looked at Draco and said, "Seriously, if he's the wizard, I say we work on getting ourselves home, because he won't be inclined to help three-fourths of us. We all know the story. Go find the broom from Umbridge, melt her with water, find the balloon, I wake up back at the Ministry, point at each one of you and say rubbish like, 'you were there and you and you,' and that's it!"

"But Hermione, I mean, if Luna made Snape appear, it might be for a reason. The last little episode was useful, to grant us all some sort of closure and to show us all empathy for each other. Maybe he's here to give us all closure, too," Draco said, regarding his former godfather, who was no longer alive in their world.

The man, to whom they were referring, huffed, folded his arms and said, "Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn."

Ron said, "But Malfoy spoke, too. You shouldn't take points from Gryffindor because Hermione spoke and not take them from Slytherin!"

Draco sneered, "Don't be an effing moron, weasel. We aren't in school any longer!"

Harry leaned toward Ron and said, "Yeah, Ron, don't be dense, this isn't even the real Snape."

"Yeah, you effing idiot," Draco concurred.

"Ten more points from Gryffindor for Potter's holier-than-thou attitude," Snape barked, opening the door to stand before them.

Harry looked outraged. "Draco called him a moron first!"

Hermione decided to take charge of the situation; otherwise they might be here all day or end up in detention! In addition, she knew that Draco might see the appearance of 'Snape' (at least this Snape, which appeared to be a copy of the one from Hogwarts) as a happy occurrence, while to the rest of them he brought up a plethora of mixed emotions.

She recognized that Draco had a different relationship with this man throughout their lives than the rest of them. Even though Harry and the rest of them later credited Snape for the hero they knew he was, the man before them wasn't the real Snape, as Harry said, so it was hard to see this man as anything other than the man who often made their lives miserable when they were younger.

Snape said, "Are you all going to enlightened me as to why you're here, and what you want, or are we going to glare at each other all day?"

Hermione said, "Tell you what, Professor, since you know us, and we know you, let's cut to the chase. We all want something from the Wizard of Because. We have reason to believe that man is you. You want Umbridge's broom, don't you? If we get it for you, will you help us to get home?"

Snape scoffed, his long nose pointing slightly down at her, and he said, "You always were an impudent, little know-it-all, Miss Granger. For your information, I am NOT the Wizard of Because. I could be if I wanted to be, but I am not. I am merely the gatekeeper, as I appear to be. Furthermore, I could care less about Umbridge's broom. Why would I want her broom? What would I use it for, sweeping up?"

Hermione leaned toward Draco and said, "I'm stumped. Find out what's going on. I'm going to go rest over there in the woods. I think I'm getting a headache." She walked away from the group, the gate, Snape and the Ruby City, and sat down on a tree stump not far away in the woods.

"Goodness, if she's getting a headache already, that doesn't bode well for our future sex life, does it?" Draco said with a laugh. He looked at Snape and said, "Am I right, or am I right?"

Snape laughed.

"That's out of line, Malfoy! Don't talk about her like that!" Ron spat. He went over to sit next to Hermione.

Harry shook his head and joined his friends. Snape said, "I never could stand the lot of them. How did you get thrown in with that motley crew?"

"Well, you may not believe it, Godfather, but I love the brainy one. That's Hermione, by the way. I just found out, sort of. I mean, I just admitted it, to her, that is," he said awkwardly.

Snape cocked his head to the side, motioning toward a bench that was along the wall. Draco sat down and Snape joined him. "I can barely believe you would lower yourself to love a Mudblood, Draco. What must your father think, boy?"

Draco stood right back up, turned around, incensed, and said, "Excuse me, Godfather, I hate to show you disrespect, whether you're real or not, but kindly refrain from calling her that word. I haven't used that word for many years. As to what my father would think, I wouldn't know, nor would I care to know. I'm not lowering myself by loving her. I'm raising myself high above the fray. She's too good for me, if the truth is known."

Snape's eyes softened, betraying his rough demeanor. They mitigated his words for a moment, and Draco realized it. Snape said, "And as to me calling you a boy, I see that statement was wrong on many counts as well. You are every bit a man now, Draco. You turned out very well, and I hope, on some small account, that I had a small part to play in that."

Draco sat back down. He lowered his arms to his knees, clasped his hands and said, "You did, Sir."

"Do people remember me fondly, in your world?" Snape asked.

Draco didn't know how to respond. Did that question mean that this Snape knew of his counterpart's fate? He said, "Yes, Sir, they know of the sacrifices that you made. You're a hero…a reluctant one; I'm sure, but a hero, every bit as much as Harry Potter and Dumbledore." Draco found that he had to swallow the knot that formed in his throat as he spoke these words of the sacrifices that Snape had made for all of them, especially him.

Snape responded, "I have one request of each of you, which you must do before you can leave this place. My request of you is twofold, actually. First, I want you to remember that you didn't kill Dumbledore. I didn't even kill Dumbledore, not really. The old man was dying, but that's neither here nor there. He was a noble man, the best man of my knowing, and he died for a cause he believed in, and he died for the greater good. We all did what we had to do, in times of trouble.

"The fact that you've forgotten the warped teachings that purebloods are better than Muggle-borns and half bloods tells me that you've learned much more than I could ever hope. I'm proud of you."

Draco couldn't look the other man in the eye. Even if this wasn't the real Snape, it felt like him, and Draco realized that he never got to tell the real Snape goodbye, and that had always bothered him, so he stood from the bench, afforded the man his due by looking upon his gaze, and said, "Thank you, Godfather, and you were an essential part of my becoming a man. A man who would someday be good enough for the likes of Hermione Granger, so again, thank you. Now, what's the second thing that I may do for you?"

Snape stood as well, shook his godson's hand, and then whispered something in his ear. Draco nodded and said, "I'll be sure to do that, Sir."

"Send Weasley over here next," Snape urged.

Draco walked over to the trio and said, "Snape wants to see you, Weasley."

Ron turned to face Draco and asked, "Why? What have I done?"

"Oh my stars, Weaslebee!" Draco exclaimed, "He wants to give you your assignment so that we can get home!"

"I have homework to do?" Ron asked, incredulously.

"SERIOUSLY, RON!" Hermione shouted before Draco could. "It's apparent that Snape is the Wizard of Because, and we're bypassing a bunch of the movie's nonsense, by procuring simple tasks from him, to be completed before we can go home, for which I'm grateful. You should be to, because there's a makeover scene where the lion has to curl his hair and sing a stupid song with a broken flower pot on his head coming up next! Now, unless you want to prance around, curls and all, broken pot on your head, get your arse in gear, and find out your mission so we can all leave here, please!"

Ron moaned, but walked over to Snape.

"What do you have to do, Malfoy?" Harry asked.

He smiled, looked at Hermione and said, "I already did one, and the other one, my assignment, if you want to call it, is to come after we leave here, and is for me to know and for Hermione to find out, later." Hermione bit her lip to keep from smiling as Draco was staring right at her. He winked at her, pulled her closer, kissed her cheek, and then pushed her away.

Now it was Harry's turn to moan. He stood up and walked away from the pair.

"Get over here, Weasley; do you think I have all day?" Snape barked, standing up, and pulling down the cuffs of his shirtsleeves.

"I'm glad you don't," Ron mumbled under his breath.

"Fifty points for cheek," Snape leveled.

"FIFTY! That's bang out of line! FIFTY!"

"Then let's make it an even 100 points, shall we? Do you want to try for two?" Snape stared at Ron and when Ron shook his head no, Snape followed with, "Very well. Now, I have a few things to say to you, Ronald Weasley. First, you were an abysmal student, at best."

Ron shook his head in agreement. "Yeah, alright, I agree with that statement."

"You were pulled around by Granger and rode on her academics coattails for years," Snape continued.

"I have no problem admitting to that either," Ron acknowledged sincerely.

Snape snapped, "You played the bumbling sidekick to Potter, always in his shadow, relying on his decisions, afraid to make your own, the whole time you were in school."

Ron took a deep breath in his nose and asked, "And your point?"

"You're no longer in school," Snape said.

Ron said, "Gee, and you being a Professor and all, I'm surprised you figured that one out on your own."

"Two hundred for cheek," Snape said, though he fought a smile.

"Oh, come on! Wait, who cares. Take all the points you want. I'm not in school any longer," Ron decided.

Snape sighed and said, "Exactly. That's what I was trying to say. You aren't. And you don't ride on Granger's coattails any longer, and you're no longer just Potter's shadow. You're your own man. You proved your loyalty and your friendship many times over throughout the years. You proved your bravery, time and time again, actually. You would have taken the pain and hurt away from your friends if you could, and you still would, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, that's what friends do," Ron answered somewhat slowly.

"Then why do you sometimes still feel inferior, when you're not? You're as good as the rest. You're as smart as your brothers, you as brave as Potter, and as loyal a friend as Granger. You, Ron Weasley, may always see yourself as second fiddle, but you're so much more. Remember that. Now, for your task, I want you to protect your friends, and do what is right, even when things sometimes seem wrong, just as you always have. Remember that advice, and you'll go far."

"That's all I have to do?" He shrugged. "Sure, I can do that. And, thank you, Professor." He reached over and held out his hand. Snape shook it.

"Send over Potter," Snape insisted.

Ron laughed. "Oh…I can't wait for this!" Ron whistled from where he stood and said, "Oi, Potter, Snape wants you now."

"I could have done that, Weasley," Snape said with a sigh.

Ron laughed and when he walked by Harry he patted his arm and said, "It's not so bad talking to him after all these years."

"That's not the real man," Harry reminded. He approached 'Snape' slowly. "Yes, Sir?"

"Potter," Snape said, and then paused. "I have so much I want to say to you, and yet, so little, if that makes sense."

"Before you say anything, let me tell you something." Harry stopped, thoughtful for a moment, before he regaled, "I disliked you immensely for a very long time. I felt you treated my friends and me unfairly, but now I see you were trying to prepare me for the inevitable, just as surely as Dumbledore did. I felt you were unjust with your comments regarding my father. Now, as a man, I can see that my father had faults, just as we all do, and many of your memories of him were jaded because of your love for my mother, and your guilt in what happened to them in the end."

"Everything you did was at great risk to yourself, and was totally selfless. I'm not even sure I can say the same about what I did," Harry said, feeling misty eyed.

"Oh, Potter," Snape said, with a slight laugh. "Once again, you see things a bit skewed. I wasn't as selfless as you seem to remember, while you were just a boy, with the weight of our world upon your shoulders. I should have made that load lighter, instead of making it heavier. I apologize. However, that's not what I called you over to say. I called you over to say that I was proud of you, and I want you to remember that I actually always was."

"That means more to me than the apology," Harry said with a laugh. "Do you have a task for me, Sir? Something I must do, like the rest of my friends, before we can go home?"

"Yes," the older man said, nodding his head. "For once, Harry, put you first. Live for yourself. Find love and happiness. It's not a crime to want these mundane things for yourself, you know. You no longer have the weight of our world on your shoulders, although I dare say you still walk with a slight stoop. Stand up straight, Harry, caste off all that doesn't belong to you, and live for Harry for a change. It's what I wish I could have done."

Harry expelled a small laugh and said, "Goodness, you almost sound as if you're channeling Lupin for a moment."

"Now you've gone too far," Snape sneered. He offered his hand to Harry. Harry shook it, nodded, and Snape said, "Send me Miss Granger."

Harry walked up to Hermione, hugged her from behind and said, "It's your turn, Hermione."

Hermione stood, squared her shoulders, and walked toward the wizard waiting by the gates of the Ruby City. Having already heard from Ron and Draco part of what the man had said to them, she couldn't wait to hear what words of wisdom he wished to impart on her.


*I think one more chapter should do us, don't you? Wonder what Snape will tell Hermione? Perhaps he will give her some hair styling tips. Wonder what he told Draco? Will they get home? Probably not…ha!