The next morning, Mrs. Bucket looked out the front window of her house and stared in shock.

"What is it, dear?" Mr. Bucket asked.

"Come here," Mrs. Bucket said.

Mr. Bucket got to his feet and looked out the window. "Holy Buckets," he said.

There, striding across the swudge grass, by Charlie's side, was Willy Wonka. The two of them were singing together, their voices floating into the cottage.

"We are like birds of a feather
We are two hearts joined together
We will be forever as one
My brother under the sun"

Mr. Bucket went to the door and opened it. He and Mrs. Bucket stood in the doorway. Charlie and Willy broke off their song and looked up.

"Mom, Dad," Charlie said.

"Mrs. Bucket, Mr. Bucket," Willy said at the same time.

Mr. Bucket looked at the two of them in silence for a moment before he spoke, "What is going on here?"

"It's a long story," Charlie said.

"Please tell us," Mrs. Bucket said, sitting down on the steps. Mr. Bucket sat next to her.

"You see, Mom, Dad, there wasn't really a ghost," Charlie said. "Willy was never really killed in the blast."

"But...how..." Mrs. Bucket said. "I mean...I couldn't be happier...but...I find this rather...er...difficult."

"I got to safety when I first realized the explosion was going to happen," Willy said, speaking for the first time.

"Then what about all the times you told us about the ghost?" Mr. Bucket said.

"Willy was playing a prank on me," Charlie said, looking over at his friend. "I found out last night."

"And I promise I'll never do it again," Willy said. He bowed his head, "I'm sorry."

Mrs. Bucket's lip twitched, and then she smiled before coming down off the steps. "It's okay," she said, laying a hand on Willy's shoulder. Willy looked up and smiled back. "Come on," Mrs. Bucket added. "Breakfast is waiting!"

The story was told to the grandparents during the meal, and at the end even Grandpa George had forgiven Willy for his prank. Everything was back to normal.

Afterwards, Charlie smiled at his friend. "You know, you 'came back' at just the right time," he said.

"Why's that?" Willy asked.

"Because today's my graduation day," Charlie said. "You did say that you were planning on coming."

"That's right! Willy said. "I even still have the ticket you gave me...somewhere..." he began digging around in his pockets until he pulled out the small rectangular sheet of paper. "Here it is!"

Charlie slowly walked up the ramp behind the stage along with his classmates. He could hear names being called as students went forward to receive their diplomas. (A/N: Is this how high school graduations work? I don't know since I was homeschooled and never had a high school graduation. All I have to model this chapter after is my college graduation)

Finally, he turned the corner and was facing the audience. He saw movement and turned to look.

There was Willy Wonka. He was standing up at his seat, waving his arms like a pair of windshield wipers on a car in a rainstorm, and grinning. (A/N: Two of my guests did this at my college graduation, and it seemed to me like something Willy would do)

Charlie grinned and waved back before turning his attention to the student ahead of him, who was called forward at that moment.

Charlie stood there, clinging to the railing. It was almost his turn. He let go and took a deep breath as the principal was handed the next diploma.

"Charles Joseph Bucket."

Charlie walked the few feet between himself and the principal. Shaking the principal's hand, he accepted the leather case.

"Congratulations, Charlie," the principal said.

"Thank you, sir," Charlie replied. Then he turned and walked off the stage as the next high school graduate was called forward.

"Boo!"

Charlie jumped and gave a startled yelp, dropping his diploma and the program. He spun around. "Willy!" he exclaimed. "You almost made me jump right out of my robe!" With that, he bent down to pick up the things he'd dropped.

"Your mom and dad and I have been trying to find ya," Willy said. "It's a mad house in here. I was about to go up there," he pointed to the balcony above them with his cane, "to see if I could see ya when I found ya here by the door." He leaned on his cane. "good idea, huh?'

"You might not have been able to see me anyway," Charlie said, "Since I have my mortarboard still on."

"Yeah," Willy said, "Except I don't think anybody else had a big, sparkly, Wonka 'W' sticker on their hat."

Charlie smiled, pleased that Willy had noticed it. "True," he said.

"Come on," Willy said. "We agreed to meet back at the refreshments after a bit." With that, he grabbed the sleeve of Charlie's robe. "I don't want to lose you again," he commented before threading his way through the crowd. Charlie struggled to keep up.

"Ah, Willy, there you are," Mr. Bucket said. His lip twitched when he spotted Charlie being hauled along by the sleeve of his robe, "And I see you found Charlie."

"Yeah," Charlie said, pulling free of Willy's grasp, "He found me all right."

Mrs. Bucket came over and hugged him. Then she pulled away, "I want to get a picture of you in your cap and gown," she said. Whipping out her camera, she took a picture.

"Hey!" Willy said suddenly, "I have an idea." He then removed his top hat and set it on top of Charlie's mortarboard. It slid off, but Charlie caught it before it hit the floor. "Hmmmm..." Willy said.

Charlie suddenly grinned and removed his mortarboard, replacing it with Willy's hat. He struck a pose. "How do I look?" he asked.

"Great!" Willy replied. Then he took Charlie's mortarboard and put it on his own head. "What do you think?" he asked. He pretended to march around, singing as he did, "daa daa da-DA-da da da DA da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da-da!"

Charlie laughed at Willy's antics. Then he handed the program and diploma to his parents. Unzipping his robe, he slid it off and then draped it about Willy's shoulders. "You look silly with the mortarboard but no robe," Charlie said.

Somehow Willy managed to wriggle out of his coat without having the robe fall off. He handed it over to Charlie. "No sillier than you look in a top hat but no tails," he retorted.

Charlie accepted the garment and shrugged it on, carefully buttoning it. "There," he said.

Willy leaned over to zip the robe closed. After hassling with it for a few minutes, he managed to get it closed. When he went to stand up, the tassel on Charlie's mortarboard got in his mouth (He'd had his mouth open and his tongue poking out in concentration from trying to get the zipper closed) He blew the tassel away. "This gosh-darned tassel is driving me nuts!" he said, swatting at it. After swatting at it for a few more minutes, he suddenly left it alone and stood next to Charlie. "Hey, Mrs. Bucket," he said, "Why don't you take our picture?"

Mrs. Bucket chuckled. "Sure," she said, pulling out her camera.

Just before the camera flashed, Charlie put his arm around his mentor's shoulders. Willy looked over at him in surprise before putting his own arm around Charlie's.

Under the sun
Under the sun
My brother under the sun