The title for chapter five is from…Little Shop of Horrors. Congrats to maureen is me.
The Idina Menzel reference from the previous chapter is the new defense teacher's name: Kim is Idina's middle name and Johnson is from Idina's Broadway debut, Maureen Johnson.
And as usual, Mara1313 wrote most of the first half of the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked. I don't own Harry Potter. End of story.
Chapter 6: I Should Tell You
Glinda frowned as she attempted to decipher the crudely drawn map that she was holding. Supposedly, it was supposed to lead to Elphaba's rooms, but apparently, Elphaba had forgotten to take into account the changing staircases, the secret hallways, and the like. She flipped the map upside-down, as if it would magically lead her to her destination if she did so. Great. It was official. Glinda Upland was once again lost in the gigantic maze known as Hogwarts.
She turned as she heard footsteps behind her. Coming down the hallway was a dark, bat-like man with long-ish greasy hair and long black robes. "Oh, it's you," the man said as soon as he saw Glinda. "Tell me, what did you do to Fae?"
"What?" Glinda gasped, surprised at this sudden interrogation.
"Fae. Fae Thropp. Yesterday, at the feast." The man narrowed his eyes. "I swear by Merlin, if you hurt her…"
"No, no, I would never hurt Elphie," Glinda said emphatically. "I was actually supposed to go to her rooms to talk to her this morning. Elphie drew me a map, but…well, I'm lost."
"Elphie?" The dark man snorted. "Seems a little perky to me. I prefer Fae, thank you very much." He stopped and stared at her. "I'll show you to Fae's rooms, as I'm going there myself. Follow me." Without another word, he left, Glinda practically jogging to keep up with his long strides.
"Who-who are you?" Glinda asked.
"I think the question should be: Who are you?" The man countered. "I'm Severus Snape, the Potions Master here at Hogwarts."
"Snape!" Glinda cried, remembering the name from the previous night. "Elphie called me that, yesterday."
"I see that," Snape replied blandly, continuing down the never-ending hallway. Finally, he stopped in front of a portrait. "Well, here we are. Hold on." He knocked on the picture of a lion and a snake entwined together.
There was no sound from inside the room. Just as Snape was about to knock again, the portrait was opened. "For the last time, I am not having an affair-oh," Elphaba stopped her rant as she saw who was outside her rooms.
"Snape, what are you doing here?" Elphaba glared, still not having completely forgiven him for last night's brawl.
"Hello, Fae. I have come to apologize for how I behaved last night. I should not have been goaded into a fight," Snape said, although without seeming terribly apologetic.
Elphaba nodded, silently accepting his apology. She then turned away from Snape to Glinda. "Good morning, Glinda. How are you?"
"Fine. Better than I've been in years," Glinda answered happily. Elphaba gave a slight smile at this.
"Well, come in, then. I have some explaining to do, don't I?" Elphaba sighed. She looked at Snape again. "Thanks, Snape. And…when you see…him, tell him- well, don't tell him anything. I don't know where he gets his ideas."
"He's an idiot, Fae. Honestly, I don't know why you were putting up with him in the first place. You could do so much better." With that, he left, his robes billowing behind him.
"Who, Elphie?" Glinda asked, curious.
Elphaba shrugged. "No one, Glinda. Come in," she said again. Glinda climbed through the portrait hole into Elphaba's rooms, and Elphaba closed the portrait behind her.
As soon as the portrait closed, Glinda leapt towards Elphaba, "Okay, tell me everything!" Glinda said.
One eyebrow of Elphaba's practically sky-rocketed. "Everything? Sorry, Glinda, but I'm afraid I still don't know every word in the dictionary or--"
"You know what I mean!" Glinda cut her off with a dramatic roll of her eyes. Then she started speaking really quickly, as if trying to ask as many questions as humanly possible in a one minute time span. "How did you get here? When did you get here? What have you been doing here, other than teaching, of course? How are you? Do they have places to get a manicure here? Why do the stairs move so often? Why didn't you tell me that you were still alive? Would you like the Grimmerie back? Am I asking too many questions?"
Although the answer was yes, Elphaba merely stared. She finally opened her mouth to answer the way-too-giddy Glinda. "For Merlin's sake, Glinda, what did you have for breakfast this morning?"
"Um…toast, I think?" Glinda replied uncertainly.
"I was being sarcastic," Elphaba said, a small smile tickling the corners of her lips. "What I meant was, how am I supposed to answer all those questions? I mean, I've just been in another world for five years. You've been running the government back in Oz! I never imagined you to be the type to run the government of Oz."
Glinda smiled bashfully. "I know, I didn't either! Every morning, when I wake up, I think, 'Sweet Lurline, what am I doing here? It ought to be Elphaba in control here. She was the smart one, the one with power and the ability to govern. I'm just the pretty girl.' But no matter how hard I wished that you back, you never returned, and I just had to go on governing Oz." There were tears in Glinda's eyes as she finished. She sniffled for a moment, while Elphaba watched in silence. "Oh, Elphie, I've missed you so much!" Glinda said before hurling herself at the green witch in a giant hug.
Elphaba was shocked to find herself hugging Glinda back and saying, "I've missed you, too!" She had missed Glinda more than she thought. It was so amazing to have her best friend back with her, one of the two Ozians to understand her—no, wait, Fiyero didn't understand her anymore. The only Ozian who understood her.
After a few minutes of crying and hugging (both mostly on the part of Glinda), Glinda let Elphaba go and sat down next to her on the couch. "Okay, now, what's happened to you since you di- well, left Oz?"
"That story could very well take several days," Elphaba replied. "I'll summarize for now." Her gaze drifted to the window overlooking the lake by Hogwarts while she thought of how to best sum up all of her adventures since leaving Oz. From where she sat, she could see that the storm from the previous night had cleared, giving a distinctly summer look to the tranquil grounds. "After I, for lack of a better word, died, Fiyero and I arrived here through a portal in the Clock of the Time Dragon."
"Fiyero?" Glinda shrieked. "He's alive too? H-how?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, they say breathing's one way to stay alive…" Elphaba began to the annoyance of Glinda. "Okay, so when they were…er, holding him captive, I tried to do a spell to save him. And I kind of…turned him into a scarecrow."
Glinda just nodded. So many weird things had happened in the past 24 hours; Who was she to question Fiyero's ability to turn into an inanimate object at the drop of a witch hat?
"You know the talking scarecrow with Dorothy? That was him. Except that…they didn't really melt me."
"No, really, Elphaba, I thought I was talking to a puddle here! But how did you not get melted? I watched you get melted!"
A clever little smile stretched across Elphaba's face, "I told you last night, remember? You watched me do a great bit of acting before falling through a trap door. After everyone left, Fiyero—as a scarecrow, that is—helped me out and we left Oz. As weird as it sounds, we went into the Clock of the Time Dragon and the next thing we knew, we were in England!"
"Wow," Glinda said, her eyes big and bright. In her dreams, she'd kept imagining getting reunited with Elphaba. Now that it was actually happening—well, it was better than her dreams! Although Elphaba had acted really peculiar at first, talking with Glinda had loosened her up. Glinda watched Elphaba talk rapidly about how Fiyero had been turned back into a human, why they called her Fae, and how she'd gotten a teaching gig at Hogwarts without hearing a single word she was saying. All Glinda could focus on was the little smile on Elphaba's face as she poured out her story to Glinda and the way her lips looked so vividly red against her green skin. Elphaba had nicely shaped lips. Glinda had always wanted lips like Elphaba's.
Glinda suddenly realized she was staring at Elphaba's mouth kind of obviously. She jerked her head a little to shake the thought of Elphaba's pretty lips from her mind. Elphaba, however, didn't even notice. She was talking about how she met some Snape guy now—wait, wasn't that the guy who had guided her to Elphie's room? Oh, well. Glinda was too focused on watching Elphaba gesture now.
It was weird, but Glinda felt a little afraid that this was all a dream, that she would suddenly wake up and have Elphaba taken away from her once more. She couldn't bear to have that happen again. Therefore, she sat on Elphaba's bed, watching every little movement of Elphie's as if trying to remember it forever so that she could cherish these little bits of Elphaba if this was just a vision.
As the years had passed, Glinda realized that Elphaba may have been more than a friend to her. In fact, as weird and peculiar as it may be, Glinda had almost had a crush on Elphaba. Perhaps it was just a really strong admiration for the brave and determined green girl at first. However, when Elphaba challenged the Wizard all those years ago in the Emerald City, something had stirred inside of Glinda, some deeper emotion that she had never felt for anyone else.
Fear, though, could be a more powerful emotion, Glinda had learned. And the resulting guilt is the worst emotion of them all. Why hadn't she gone with Elphaba and rebelled against the injustice of the Wizard's treatment of Animals? Why hadn't she flown off with Elphaba? She could have helped her! But Glinda had been too afraid of the Wizard and his power. It had taken her a couple more years to realize that she, too, had power. Still, she hated ruling Oz. Elphaba ought to be the one ruling it, not Glinda.
All those years of guilt and suffering and shame, all those horrible years that had so tormented Glinda were now over and done. Because Elphaba was alive and okay, and that's all that mattered to Glinda. And she would finally admit it to herself. She loved Elphaba, and not just in a platonic way…but Elphaba was heterosexual. After all, she'd stolen Fiyero. Poor Fiyero. He'd never been anything but a mere symbol of status to Glinda. Well, Elphaba loved him, not Glinda. Although it was painful to finally realize who you were in love with all along and finally find out that she's alive and healthy but then have to ignore those feelings because she loves someone else, Glinda knew that it was more important that Elphaba was happy.
"…and then all of a sudden, you came into the Great Hall and said, 'Elphie?' and you know the story from there," Elphaba finished.
Glinda was startled. She'd only tuned into the last few words, but it sounded like Elphaba had finished telling the story. Darn, she'd missed most of it. But she could always ask people here for tidbits of information if necessary. She was slightly embarrassed to have not paid any attention to Elphaba's explanation of the past five years, but that shame was soon forgotten when Elphaba turned to her and asked, "So, how have the people of Oz been faring under Glinda the Good?"
Glinda gave a nervous titter. "Well. They're happy, I think. I must be a better monarch than the Wizard was, because I seem to have a lot of loyal supporters."
"You've always had a lot of loyal supporters, Glinda!" Elphaba said, grinning. There suddenly was a deep chiming from somewhere in the castle, indicating that it was time for the switching of classes. Elphaba glanced at her clock. "Oh Merlin," she muttered. "I'm going to be late for class. I'd better go."
"Merlin?" Glinda asked, bemused.
"A wizarding expression," Elphaba explained. "I have to go. Bye, Glinda. I'll see you at lunch." She dashed out of the room, slamming the portrait behind her.
One week later…
Elphaba cursed under her breath as she landed face first on the carpet of Grimmauld's Place, the official Order Headquarters. She never did like Floo Powder. Dumbledore had called an Order meeting today with only the major members. She wondered why; typically Dumbledore waited a month after school started before calling a meeting, and it had only been a week."
She felt someone grab her upper arm and haul her to her feet. "Alright there, Fae?" Harry asked, laughing.
Elphaba glared playfully at the Boy-Who-Lived. "Oh, be quiet." she tried to whack him on the shoulder.
Harry feigned a hurt look. "This is my reward for helping you?" Before Elphaba could answer, a man with blazing red hair came up behind Harry.
"Come on, Harry. The meeting's about to start," Ron said jovially. He glanced at Elphaba and added curtly, "Good morning, Thropp. I shall see you at the meeting." He left, dragging Harry with him.
Elphaba shrugged and trailed after the two men. For some reason, Ron had never trusted nor tried to get close to the green-skinned witch, not that she minded terribly. It did hurt a bit that people still judged her on the basis of her skin here, but Elphaba was thankful that it was only one or two people here compared with the whole population in Oz.
She entered the noisy kitchen of Grimmauld's Place to see that Dumbledore had already arrived with Glinda. "Elphie!" Glinda cried.
"Hello, Glinda," Elphaba smiled. She walked over to her friend. "When did you get here?"
"Glinda!" someone behind Elphaba called in greeting. Elphaba turned around to see her ex-boyfriend hurrying towards them.
"Fiyero?" Glinda asked uncertainly. Although Elphaba had already told her that Fiyero was alive, actually seeing him was a completely different matter.
"Remus told me that you were here," Fiyero said. "How have you been?" Elphaba and Fiyero's eyes suddenly met, and there was another awkward moment.
Elphaba spoke first. "I'll leave you two alone, then." She walked away from her two friends towards Snape who had just arrived.
Fiyero scowled. Glinda looked curiously at him. "What happened to you and Elphie? Are you two still-"
Fiyero shook her head. "No. She broke up with me."
Why hadn't Elphaba said anything about breaking up with Fiyero? Glinda wondered. Unless it had occurred after she'd gotten here. Maybe...maybe they'd broken up because Elphaba really loved Glinda...
Before Fiyero could say anything else, Dumbledore came up to the two Ozians. "Fiyero, I'm sorry, but there is an urgent matter I must discuss with you."
Fiyero paused and looked at Glinda. "Apparently, her…affections changed," he spat, nodding towards Elphaba and Snape. As Glinda opened her mouth to comment, Fiyero continued, "I don't want to talk about it. I have to go, Glinda. It was nice seeing you again." He walked away and followed Dumbledore into the hallway.
Glinda's attention wandered to Elphaba and Snape. She watched from a distance as the two staff members at Hogwarts bantered playfully back and forth.
"-falling face first. How in the world can you use Floo powder without collapsing?" Elphaba was saying to Snape.
"For a black panther, you certainly are quite incompetent," Snape sneered, although without the usual bite in his voice. "Aren't cats supposed to always land on their feet? You just have to engage your center of balance as you land. Idiot."
Black panther? Glinda wondered. Elphaba may act like a panther at times, but she definitely wasn't a cat.
"Shut up," Elphaba grinned. "Who's the one that failed his apparition test five times?"
"I should never have told you that," Snape grumbled. "Besides, you said you'd never bring it up again."
Elphaba smirked. "You've told me that I'm the perfect blend of Gryffindor and Slytherin. This was my chance to prove it."
As Glinda watched, she became more and more convinced that Elphaba was in love with Snape. He definitely seemed dark enough, not to mention that he had enough sarcasm and wit to match Elphaba. Well, if Snape made Elphaba happy…
Before she could ponder more on this new train of thought, Dumbledore stepped back into the room. "Thank you for waiting for us," he said, stopping the chatter in the kitchen. "I would like to call this meeting to order."
The air filled with sounds of chairs scraping the hard stone ground of the Black's old family home. After Sirius Black had died, he had left Grimmauld's Place to Dumbledore, to be used as the official Order Headquarters. Elphaba sat down next to Snape and Glinda, trying her best to avoid Fiyero's hard gaze.
"I would like to start by introducing the 'contact' I've been hinting at for the past few weeks. This is Glinda Upland, from the land of Oz," Dumbledore began. Glinda gave a wave and a small smile to the twenty or so members staring at her. Truthfully, she felt like a bug being scrutinized under a microscope.
"Oz?" Hermione Granger asked. "Isn't that where Fae is from?"
"Yes," Elphaba answered curtly, before Dumbledore could say anything.
"Ahem," Dumbledore cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the Order members again. "Yes, well, Ms. Upland has pledged her support in the war. She also has a spell book that she's been learning to read- The Grimmerie."
Elphaba looked at Glinda. "The Grimmerie?" she asked. "So you have been learning to read it."
Glinda nodded. "I'm sure you can read it a lot easier than me, though." She looked at Dumbledore. "When I said that I had a friend that could read all the spells, I was talking about Elphaba."
"You can read it?" Dumbledore directed his question at Elphaba. "Well, then, we must have a talk."
Damn, Elphaba thought. She had used the Grimmerie a few times back in Oz, but she had hated it each time, merely because she realized that if she had never laid eyes on it, she would never have found out about the Wizard's ulterior motives concerning her and the Animals and would never have been called a Wicked Witch in the first place.
"-Fae?" someone called, starting Elphaba out of her musings.
"Sorry, what?" Elphaba glanced up at Hermione.
"Merlin, Thropp. Pay attention," Ron snapped.
"I seem to distinctly remember several occasions during which you actually fell asleep, Weasley," Snape's silky voice cut through. "I don't believe you are in any position to criticize Fae here."
Elphaba sent Snape a grateful look. "I'm sorry, Hermione, could you repeat that?" she asked politely.
"Oh, I just wanted to know more about the Grimmerie. It sounds fascinating. Is it really in a different language? How do you read it? What kind of spells are in it?" Hermione reminded Elphaba of Glinda's rapid-fire questioning from a week ago.
"I hardly think that this is the time or place to talk about this, Granger," Snape snapped. "I for one would like to not waste my precious time listening to your voice."
"Severus," Dumbledore reprimanded.
"Sorry, Headmaster," Snape apologized. "Would you like to hear my report now?" When Dumbledore nodded, Snape began an insider's view on what Voldemort was planning.
"I'm sorry I was not able to find out much, Albus. It seems as though Voldemort does not trust me as much these days," Severus said.
"That's okay, Severus. Anything you can find out is bound to be helpful," Dumbledore told him. "Hermione, was there something you wished to say?"
Hermione pulled out a map and laid it on the kitchen table. "Okay, well, I've noticed that Voldemort seems to attack in a sort of pattern. Perhaps we could predict his next target…"
Lord Voldemort sat impatiently in a dark damp room. Kneeling in front of him was a young man.
"Why do you wish to join my ranks?" Voldemort was saying to said man. "What reason do I have to believe that you're trustworthy?"
"I wish to break away from Dumbledore and his band of merry chickens," the man answered respectfully. "And I have information about the spy you've been suspecting."
"A spy?" the Dark Lord's eyes narrowed.
"Yes," the newly recruited Death Eater replied. "A spy by the name of Severus Snape."
Coming up: A look at Elphaba's dueling class and some shocking news.
Sorry that took so long. I had an insane amount of trouble with the first talking scene- eventually, I just handed that over to Mara, who amazingly wrote it in about an hour.
-Wolfie