Emily Foster and the Book-Dragon

For Enoé

1

When Emily Foster settled into the back of her local Starbucks–in her favorite seat next to the open archway leading into a sprawling Barnes and Noble–she had no idea that it would be for the last time. The coffeehouse was located at the corner of West and Periwinkle Road, just a brief drive south of Hollywood. Emily escorted her tall green tea to the back of the building. She listened to the way her black flats squeaked against the polished tiles and the soft swish of her long purple dress while her mind drifted to the loud blenders and the baristas churned their drinks. The soft whiz of an aerosol container told her that they were swirling whipped cream on top of a drink. Those familiar sounds mingled in Emily’s mind and she used them to bring herself back to the tangible reality she was used to despite the overwhelming excitement which she was unable to shake off. 

A sip of cold tea helped her relax a bit as she took her seat and yawned wide. She ran her fingers along the cold chair then across the dark and polished table. It felt solid enough, but Emily did not believe it was real or that it was about to happen. The anticipation she had dealt with all week was rearing its head as she waited for her guest to arrive. Emily scolded herself for having stayed up late the night before, just to go over the handouts from accounting for the hundredth time. Then again, the last thing she wanted to do was to make a fool of herself in front of someone she admired so much.

After taking a deep breath, she pulled out the neat manila folders from her bag and arranged them on the table. As Emily lifted the bag to set it aside, she felt something weighing it down and peered in to see what it was. The spine of a medium-sized book peered up at her as if begging to be let out. Bright golden lettering picked up the fluorescent lights and shone like living letters. Emily gave a half smile at the familiar book (and old friend) then tried to remember her reasons for packing it into her bag on such an important business meeting. She concluded that no reason was necessary. Pulling it out, she saw that the hardcover was beaten on all edges, free of the slipcover which had only gotten in the way of further re-readings. The contrast of purple over a layer of crimson red seemed to give the book an enigmatic flare.

As Emily hid the book under her stack of folders a light pierced her eyes from across the building and she heard the momentary rumble of cars as the front door peeled open. Through it appeared a tall slender figure outlined in sunlight. Emily stood in excitement and as she waved the woman over to her, not caring that she was acting like the unabashed fangirl that she was.

2

The older women walked in with long steady strides, dressed in loose-fitting black exercise pants, a plain midnight blue hoodie and white sneakers. Because her hood was down, Emily could see that she had her blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. She greeted Emily with a shy slanted grin and an extended hand that was warm to the touch. Even in the workout clothes and a lack of any makeup, Emily was convinced that there were few people in the whole world who would fail to recognize this woman. If not for being a public icon and world-renowned writer with numerous television appearances, then the women would be recognized for her most recent work as a humanitarian under the nonprofit organization that she created, called Cauldron of Love.

“Thank you for joining me, Mrs. Rowling. It is such a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh no. The real pleasure is all mine. I have been looking forward to our meeting for some time now. More than you know. But please, call me Joe.”

Emily blushed at the sincerity her voice. “Got it, Joe it is then! Please, have a seat.”

As the two sat down, Emily noticed for the first time a tall man that was walking towards them. 

“This is my personal assistant and a very dear friend of mine. Come and introduce yourself, Seth.”

The man named Seth approached the table but gave only the briefest of nods to Emily. This did not bother her much as she was primarily preoccupied by the suspicion that this man looked familiar to her, as if they had met before. He was handsome, tall and he walked with a slight limp. The dark circles below his eyes made him look older than he really was. His hair was grey and yet, despite his stern features, Emily thought he could not be more than five years older than herself. He leaned into Joe’s ear and whispered briefly.

“Please…and get yourself a drink too. We should be safe until you return.”

The man limped to the front of the coffeehouse and got in line.

“I’m glad you suggested we meet here,’ Emily said. “It’s better than meeting at one of our stifling little offices at Pantheon Books. Coming here helps me clear my head and get some work done without having someone breathe down my neck, you know. Have you ever visited our offices?”

“No, I can’t say that I have. I love coffee-shops too, as you may have heard before. It is essential to get away from those corporate bobble-heads, even if only for an hour or two.” Joe said with the hint of a smile in her eyes. Then, with the deftness of a practiced hand, she slid her oversized bag directly in front of her and crossed her slender hands in front of her. There was an unmistakable gleam in the author’s eyes that seemed to probe into Emily’s brain. Emily took this gesture as a silent invitation for the two of them to launch into their business and she did so after draining the last of her drink in one long gulp.

3

As Emily dove headlong into her pitch she found that her uncertainties were no match for the familiarity of the technical jargon which seemed to come out of her as if by its own accord. This was, after all, the beginning stages of an acquisition process to buy the publication rights to books that her employers would love to publish and to then track their sales charts with growing anticipation. These were corporate figureheads who don’t read on their own time, who would sit in their ergonomic chairs, sipping on a mug of weak coffee, breathing in their humidified air and staring at the numbers coming in from the updated sales reports. Emily knew because she had met them, hunched over in front of their screens, calculating and churning over in their uncreative minds the next possible phase in the given fiscal quarter.

Emily had helped secure manuscripts from dozens of authors in the past eight years that she had worked for Pantheon (the subsidiary of Random House Publishing) and this was by far the biggest business acquisition she had ever been entrusted with in her career, not to mention the most nerve wracking! She handed Joe several folders which laid out a proposed strategy for the world-renowned author J. K. Rowling to come on board with her latest work and give them a chance to promote it and see that it sold as many copies or more than each book in her Harry Potter series had sold to date. They made it explicitly clear that they planned to properly market and sell far more copies than her last book had managed to sell. 

“It is flattering to see that your bosses at Pantheon are willing to offer so much for my latest book, sight unseen. This of course, despite the lack of widespread interest in the last book I published. As you may know, the one that many critics ridiculed as a pretentious novel that lacks substance and a discernible theme or plot. They called it a sad departure from the fun and excitement I had offered up in my Harry Potter and  mystery novels.”

“No. They’re wrong. That book was great!” Emily blurted this out before she could stop herself. “Trust me, I’m not just saying that to win your favor. I have read all of your books. I thought it was a great progression and the way you handled the science fiction elements was amazing. It was not at all what I expected from you but it still blew me away.”

Joe laughed. “Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely. Plus I’m sure that it will take some time for the general public to warm up to it. “Down is Up” was a dense work that took me a few rereads to better understand, but it was completely worth the investment. My bosses must feel the same way. They would be fools not try and secure the rights to publish your next novel. I know I can’t wait to read it!”

Joe reached over and tapped Emily’s hand in what was nothing short of an endearing gesture.

“What would you say my dear Emily, if I told you that I believe my latest book will not only go on to sell record numbers, live long in the hearts and minds of the people but ultimately go on to change the lives of many for the better? It sounds like nothing short of a grandiose sales pitch, but I am being rather frank with you. What if I told you it was not a novel at all?”

Emily leaned back in her chair in surprise. “Not fiction?”

“Yes, indeed. My latest book is an Autobiography.”

Joe smiled as she reached her hand into the bag and pulled out a bundle of black spiral bound hardcover notebooks. They were held together by several crisscrossing black rubber bands. Emily stared at the bundle in wide-eyed wonder as Joe held it out to her, inviting her to take them with a brief nod. As she took it in her hands she was at once aware of the weight of the notebooks and the quality of them. 

“Would you like to be the first to read it? Up until now, these notebooks have not been touched by another living soul. I will be entrusting them to you, Emily. I know that when the time comes you will know exactly what to do with them.” As Joe said this, a glint shone in her eyes but Emily could not be sure if it was just a trick of the overhead light reflecting off of her pupils. 

“I would love to read them! I mean if you don’t mind of course. Oh wow. But these can’t be the only copies, right? You must have typed copies saved to cloud servers or flash drives. Joe?”

Before Joe could respond, the grim-faced man returned with a drink in each hand and the two friends exchanged a knowing look. Seth handed Joe her drink then took a seat in the table behind theirs, facing the entrance. After a long drink Joe slipping into a brief silence in which she looked at Emily and smiled.

“Nothing is what it used to be. We were working towards a common goal for the benefit of many, but now look where that’s gotten us.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Listen, we don’t have much time left. The manuscript will have to suffice for now.” Then she peered under a manila folder in an effort to change the subject. “What is that book you have there? Can you show me?”

Emily’s cheeks reddened at the mention of the book she had unconsciously brought into her meeting. She handed it over with a twinge of embarrassment and reluctance. “I don’t really know why I brought the book with me. It was a gift from my 8th grade English teacher, Miss Carmel. This was my first introduction to you as a writer. It was also the book that hooked me into reading…into a vortex from which you might say I have never wanted to, or felt the need to, escape.”

Joe examined Emily’s copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

“Yes! Books are a magic all of their own, aren’t they. A special kind of magic that takes hold and never lets go.” Joe cracked it open to the title page and produced a pen, as if from thin air. “Would you like me to sign it for you?”

Before Emily could reply, Joe began to scribble away at the page. She could hear the pen of her favorite writer in the whole world softly scratching against the book that she had read and reread many more times than she could ever count. The feeling of elation very nearly brought tears to her eyes. She was overwhelmed by the gesture and felt like dancing in the aisle-way, but restrained herself for the benefit of all present.

“Thank you! This means so much to me. I know that this makes me sound like a complete dork but just sitting here across the table from you is a dream come true for me.”

Joe laughed as her hand halted briefly above the page, then she wrote down one last flourish and closed the book. She handed it back to Emily, making her promise to only read the inscription after their meeting was over.

“I know that this will be hard to believe, Emily, but Seth and I came here for more than just the obvious reasons. Actually, I had hoped to meet you sooner but there has been so much going on…and…Emily, you have got to listen to me! Are you listening now?”

“Yes. Of course. But what are you talking about? Why would you want to meet me sooner? Did you have other books that we could publish?”

Seth swung around so abruptly that Emily gasped. He stood up in such a hurry that he knocked back his chair but seemed to give no notice. 

Just as suddenly, Joe reached out a hand and rested it on Emily’s own, squeezing it tight without causing her any pain. 

“Emily dear, this is it! Please stay alive. Guard the manuscript. It is the only copy and once you read it you will understand why. We will protect you as long as we can. Trust me.”

Emily glanced at her favorite author and over at the back of Seth and read the tenseness in their postures. Something was happening but she still didn’t know what it was. “I will. But what’s going on? Is there paparazzi outside?” 

“I wish it was only them.”

From across the coffeehouse there came a loud bang as if the doors had been flung open and Emily then heard an abrupt shuffling of feet that seemed to be advancing towards them. Seth shrugged off his long black overcoat and as it tumbled to the floor, Emily saw with utter disbelief as he reached one hand behind his back and with his thumb and index finger he produced a long black wand! It looked far smoother than any Emily had ever seen before in facsimile or like the ones used in the films, but there was no mistaking what it was.

Emily’s wide eyes followed the wand as it slid out of his sleeve and then he raised it up in the air in what looked like a blatant act of defiance. 

“Halt!” he cried out in a harsh and menacing voice.

“Is…is that a…” Emily could not find the words.

Joe shook her by the arm. “Hurry now, Emily! Put these things away! Hurry. Seth can’t keep them away forever.”

At that moment Emily had a million questions running through her head but she still managed to do as she was told. She stuffed every last paper into her bag.  A high-pitched scream erupted from the entrance but Emily could not see what was going on. A man screamed but his words were immediately muffled by an electrical buzz that lit up the ceiling and shot over their heads in a thin grey beam which shattered the tinted window that once separated them from the book store.

Emily screamed as she shielded her head with one hand from falling glass. When none rained down on her, she looked up to see that J. K. Rowling had drawn out her own wand and held it up in the air, shielding them from the falling debris. The wand she held in her hands was white.

“Magic is real! It always has been. It’s too late to run, Emily. The only way out of here now is if we fight!”

Joe extended her wand to the group in the front of the coffeehouse and returned fire. A golden flame erupted from the tip of her wand. The impact was earsplitting and it shook the entire store. It was at that moment that the real fighting began.

4

“I went them all dead!”

A thin streak of brilliant crackling energy smashed into a nearby table and chairs, causing them to shatter into an outward spray of a thousand splinters. Emily ducked instinctively from the explosion and felt a thin sliver of wood pierce her forearm with surprisingly little pain. 

Seth moved like a trained hand as he flipped over their table and together they ducked down behind it. They crouched against one another and watched as the ends of the table were blasted off by pulsing beams of magic. Joe turned to Seth with an intense glare.

“How many?”

“Eight. More outside, sealing off the exits now.” As he said this he thrust his hand over the top of the table and cast his own spells that were followed by small muffled explosions.

“Shit! How could I be so stupid!” Joe slammed her open palm on her thigh. 

“They have crossed the line here, Joe. What they are doing here is in direct violation of the Magical World Treaty. The Ministry will not–”

“To Hell with the Ministry! We knew this would not last. The treaty is broken, Seth. Broken!” She paused for a moment, engrossed by the floor in general. “This is a declaration of war…war…Fuck it, then!”

Joe stood up suddenly in a grand act of reckless defiance. Her body was tall and imposing over them as she deflected two of their blasts with mere flickers of her wand. In an instant she had lobbed off three of her own attacks and the explosions were deafening. At that instant Seth put an arm on Emily’s shoulder and he squeezed it, not without care. It was enough to get her attention.

“Good luck, Emily. Joe will take care of you from here on out. Believe in yourself. We believe in you.” He let go of Emily, nodded up at Joe, then rolled over to the nearest table that was not yet blown apart. “Go! Get her out of here, Joe! Do it before they find out who she really is.”

Seth was on his own. 

Joe ducked down just as a crackling beam of light streaked above her head. She reached behind her back and produced a second wand, only this one was brown and it had been through a lot of wear. “Here, Emily. Take this. If you have read my books then you know exactly what to do with it.” Emily took it in her hand without thinking twice. It felt heavier in her hand than she expected it to. Some kind of electrical spark passed through her fingertips when she first touched it, then it was gone. She weighed it in her hand, trying to imagine how this too could be a weapon, like a gun, only the strength of the attacks were conjured up from within her.

“I’ve never used one before.”

“Go!” Seth screamed from what seemed like miles away to Emily.

Joe gave her a wry grin as she grabbed Emily’s hand and dragged her hard. With the bag securely held close with one hand and the wand in the other, Emily allowed herself to be led by Joe as they hopped over the shattered window and tumbled onto the carpeted floor of the adjacent bookstore. It was so much brighter by comparison and so too could they see that it was deserted. 

Emily only dared a quick glance behind her, just in time to see Seth grappling with a tall man in a black tactical armor. The tall soldier head-butted Seth in the forehead then tried to raise his sleek black wand and aim it into the face of his opponent. Seth beat him to it, as he turned his wand just a few degrees and fired point blank into the man’s unprotected face. The soldier went limp but Seth did not allow him to fall. Instead he swung him around and used him as a human shield. Blood spouted out of the soldier’s limp body with every blast he took.

There was no longer any doubt in Emily’s mind that this was no game they were involved in. These soldiers were shooting to kill.

5

“Get beside me!” Joe hooked one arm around Emily as they ran towards the nearest bookcase, using her other arm to fire spells behind her. One spell made an expanding cloud to appear out of nowhere, clouding the gap between them and their attackers. The two women reached the bookcase and fell to their knees, panting. Emily could feel her heart swelling within her chest, throbbing with every pulse, both in her temples and her throat. Sweat trickled down her face and she could feel the tears wanting to come out in a torrent of fear and rage but she managed to force them back, not wanting to show weakness in the wake of their situation.

“This is ridiculous! Who are these people and why would they want to kill you? Don’t they know who you are?”

“They do know who I am and that is precisely why they want me dead. You were never meant to be dragged into this. I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Suddenly, books erupted around them in concentrated sprays of pages that fell in burning tatters, spiraling to the floor. It looked as if small detonators were going off on timed charges around them, though Emily knew well enough by the way the splinters in her arm ached that this was far from any controlled movie set.

“Couldn’t we just apparate out of here? Can you do that?”

Joe shook her head with a heaviness on her face. “Those soldiers set up containment spells of their own when they realized we were here. They had just enough time to draw out an invisible dome that would prevent us from doing such a thing.”

They looked at each other for less than a minute but it seemed like an eternity.

“Have you ever used a wand before? No, of course not. Well, being as you are only half muggle, it should not take you long to pick up some of the basics. I need you to fight with me, Emily.” Joe then pointed at a table at the end of their aisle, stacked with books. “There, aim at that table. You don’t have to say it aloud, just visualize the outcome. Feel the magic course through your brain and course through your nerves, channeling its way to your wand. Levitate it!”

Emily nodded without question. A part of her felt silly, doing this in front of her idol but hadn’t she also dreamt of being able to do such a thing when she was just a little girl, awake late into the night, staring into the open book and absorbed in the fascinating adventures of Harry Potter? Hadn’t she been willing to give anything just to be a wizard like Hermione, to be a student at Hogwarts even during the climactic battle against Voldemort’s army? But that was just wishful thinking. Joe must have her mistaken for someone else. 

“Wait, did you say half-muggle?”

Joe waved her hand as if to say that was of little consequence. “Just do it!”

The display table was no more than 15 feet away from where Emily was and yet as she stood there with her wand outstretched in front of her, it seemed to draw further and further away from her. Neither did it help that there were books erupting every instant to her right. Joe fired back through the openings that were made in the bookcase. The soldiers were advancing and she knew it.

Emily spoke the spell in her mind. She held her breath as she focused on the receding display but nothing happened.

Okay, she thought to herself. Lets try that again!

She shook her arm and exhaled deeply, then recomposed herself. She tried again and still nothing happened. By the fourth attempt, Emily thought she saw some slight movement in a couple of the books. Before she could confirm it for herself with any certainty though, a strong force hit her in the shoulder and knocked her off her feet and sent her crashing into a heavy bookcase.

The wand fell from Emily’s hand. With wide eyes and despair in her heart, she saw it fall and was lost under a pile of falling books. Before she knew what was happening, Emily felt herself being dragged away. 

“Don’t you dare faint on me, Emily! Lets go!”

The throbbing in her shoulder was spreading. Emily peered over at the wound and what she saw through her teary eyes almost did make her lose consciousness. It was far worse than she had anticipated. Blood oozed out of the gaping wound that ran down her bare arm then trickled down on the floor leaving behind her a thin crimson trail.

“My blood. That is my blood. Why…are they…doing this?”

At first, Joe did not reply. They scurried across the magazine racks at the back of the store and cut across into the children’s section. 

“They want to kill us because they think that magic is a weapon and should remain militarized. These bastards want to ban all magic studies across the world and keep it for themselves. Quick, turn in here!”

Books exploded behind them in a rapid succession. 

“You know Emily, there is nothing I hate more than the wasting of perfectly good books. What say you we put them to good use?”

Emily could only give Joe a weary nod as she had no idea what was going to happen to them. Now that she was wandless and her arm was useless, she had no clue as to how they were going to survive. How much longer would it be until they were surrounded and killed?

6

Shouts and heavy footfalls could be heard advancing on them. They were getting too close, Emily thought, as she huddled down beside a stack of graphic novels, trying to steady the pounding in her chest and tried to ignore the spreading pain in her shoulder. 

Emily asked Joe what they were going to do. The only response she got was a blank stare. For the briefest moment, Emily feared that Joe was also giving up, resigning herself to a fate that was both eventual and advancing on them with every second that passed. They would be found out, dragged out into the open by muscled and unapologetic monsters who would summarily execute them on the spot before anybody else could intervene on their behalf.

The seconds were passing and each one weighed heavier on Emily. She lifted the bag with Joe’s heavy manuscripts and struck her idol hard enough in the side to jar her out of her daze. Rather than being upset, Joe smiled as she came back to the present. She stood up and grabbed the nearest book in front of her. It was a thick, hardbound volume.

“I’ve got it. Emily, this book will be the seed of our salvation.”

That said, Joe tapped it with the tip of her wand and whispered something so low that Emily was not able to discern it. Suddenly, the book began to shake as if something was growing within it. 

That was when they heard the voice behind them.

“Hands up! Drop the wand. Do it now, both of you!” The soldier stood at the end of the aisle with his wand trained on them and it did not budge. He pressed down on a radio clipped to his shoulder. “I have them! Get the Lieutenant!”

Joe gave Emily a quick but unmistakable glance as she did what she was told. They lifted their hands in the air and Joe’s wand tumbled to the floor. When she did this, Emily saw, to her utter amazement, that the book which she had been holding in the palm of her hand remained fixed in space, still vibrating and held aloft by whatever magical spell that Joe had imbued it with. The soldier could not see this, as Joe made a point to stand right in front of it.

As they stood there, with their arms in the air, it did not take long before another figure stepped into view and took his place. This figure was slim, gaunt, and wore a lighter uniform than the rest. A long black cloak billowed behind him as he turned to the two women and walked towards them with an arrogant swagger. His lipless grin was as unpleasant as the long gnarled wand that he held out in front of him, like a sword he would gladly impale them on. 

Joe tensed up at the sight of the man then recomposed herself and laughed in earnest.

“Joe, Joe, Joe.” He said. “Look at you. Great wizard and writer of renown. How the mighty do fall, in the end. Yes, this is the end for you and that pretty little thing behind you. Such a shame! I thought you were smarter than this. You should have taken the job when it was offered to you. Then perhaps our roles might be reversed. You could have killed my men a long time ago. Why didn’t you?”

“Killing doesn’t come easy for everyone. That is after all what separates a human being from any lowly animal groveling in a trough full of shit like you do.”

The man laughed though Emily saw there was no humor in his eyes. They narrowed in a cold and calculated way.

“Human? Human is the new animal! We are the next tier in human evolution. Homo Sapien will give way to Homo Magi! How could you turn your back on that? You of all people? This is bigger than your useless humanitarianism and your stupid insistence that the Muggle world is capable of ruling itself when all I have to do is turn on CNN or the nightly news to see that it is far from true. We are the catalysts for a new state. Humans will kneel down before us and treat us like the Gods that we are!”

Joe smiled, unmoved by his words as if it were not the first time she had heard it. Emily on the other hand was trying to wrap her mind around what the man had called Homo Magi and the coming of a new state? She did not like the sound of that.

“Don’t think that you are buying yourself any time here. This monologue is really for my benefit. I want you to know that after all the time you spent, working for the peaceful coexistence of muggles and wizards, it will all be over in the flash of my wand. It will all die with you and your friends. Your little training manuals disguised as fiction will be burned in the streets, banned and utterly forgotten! The Commander wanted to be here to kill you himself but he has more important things to do. So, how does it feel, to be the woman who did not live?”

Joe spat in his face.

“Cut the shit, Longbottom! What makes you think he won’t do the same to you? No small amount of power is ever enough for the–”

“Don’t call me that! It’s Livingston, not Longbottom. Livingston!

A silence fell between them as the two stared into one another’s face just inches apart, neither flinching.

“My apologies.” Joe then bowed her head in feigned reverence. “Forgive me, Lord Longbottom. Is that better?”

Livingston’s face contorted in anger and he struck Joe in the face with the back of his hand. She fell to the floor then, cradling her cheek. Emily saw blood ooze out from between Joe’s fingers and wanted the rush to her but was afraid he would swat her aside. Emily was surprised to see Joe peer up at him and start to laugh through her bloody mouth. It was a sharp laugh that cut deep into Livingston like no knife could.

“Your Commander will fail just like Valentine did and those that came before him. Haven’t you learned anything from The Annals of Wizardkind? History will repeat itself as it always does. He will drag you down with him, into the dirt, you pompous oaf!”

Livingston shook his head. “Not this time. Valentine was a fool without a plan. We are–” He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw for the first time the book suspended in mid-air, spinning in place right in front of Emily. “What is that? Oh Joe, is this your idea of defeating us? You are going to need more than a levitating book to do that!”

Joe dragged herself up onto her feet and wiped the blood from her mouth. “There is magic that I never taught you. Not one book. How about all of them? Emily, blow on it, now!”

Emily did not think twice and did as she was told. What came next happened so fast. The book shot forward at a blinding speed and it grazed Livingston right in the face as it travelled. He fell back from the blow. The book came to a stop in the center of the bookstore and began to make a high-pitched whistling sound like boiling water on a kettle. Emily saw that all of the books in the entire store had begun to rattle in their shelves. Then, like iron filings attracted to a magnet, all at once the books began flying in the direction of the first book at the center of it all. It was there that they bonded into a spinning tornado that, it seemed to Emily, began taking the shape of something enormous.

7

“Get down!” Joe shouted and together they ducked beneath a wave of books as they flew dangerously close over their heads.

Bolts of magic bounced off the rotating, amorphous mass of books but they did nothing to stop it from taking a definite form. The soldiers stood then in awe of the shape that was emerging from the maelstrom. It was not long before every shelf had been emptied out and stood bare. At last, in the center of the store, a creature took shape in all of its immensity, wasting no time by unfurling its hardbound wings and lifting the bulk of its head upward until it brushed against the ceiling and sent tiles tumbling down to the floor. The roar that it emitted from its gaping mouth was deafening.

“Is that a…a…dragon?” Emily knew that it was but she asked just the same.

The Book-dragon reared its head towards the soldiers and opened its mouth in escalating fury, roaring like the sound of crackling thunder. It lunged at them with all of its ferocity and they fell back in a panic, stumbling over one another to get out it its destructive path. Emily saw as it moved that its hide was lined with books as if they were scales. A bright blue flame erupted from the Book-Dragon’s mouth and it clambered over shelves to overtake the soldiers. It was too fast for them to outrun it.

“Wow! Where did you learn to do that, Joe?”

“At Howth Castle. Or Hogwarts, as you have come to know it. In fact, it was your father who taught me that particular spell.” Joe met Emily’s gaze and gave an apologetic smile.

“My father? But he died when I was 6. My mom told me that he died of a heart attack.”

“Yes. Well he did die of a broken heart, but not in the way you think.”

Before Emily could ask any further questions, Livingston rammed into Joe from the side and together they toppled onto the floor. The two rolled about but in the end it was Livingston who was the stronger. He elbowed Joe in the ribs and blood spouted from her mouth. The sight was so horrific to Emily that she felt she had do so something to stop him. Emily grabbed a handful of Livingston’s hair and yanked his head back as hard as she could, then felt herself jab at one of his eyes with her acrylic nails. He screamed, lashed out and in doing so knocked Emily over.

Darkness fell over Emily, threatening to overtake her. She lifted herself on one elbow and saw something that she wished she hadn’t. 

Livingston lifted one closed fist after another and rained down blows on Joe, without mercy or restraint. One after the other after the other blow struck Joe and there was no sign of her defending herself any more. Her leg twitched.

“The great Wizard and Champion of Muggles! Where are your friends now? Nobody is here to save you. You are pathetic!” He spat on her then and punched her in the ribs. Joe cried out in agony. “You are so weak. Look at you. What a waste!”

Joe’s head turned and her pain-strewn eyes met Emily’s.

Emily stretched out her hand, as if to stop him from hitting her any more but instead she felt something thin and uneven had flown there. She gripped the wand tightly in her hand and wasted no time. Despite the increasing pain in her shoulder and the deafening crash of the Book-Dragon in a heated pursuit, Emily dragged herself up to her feet and aimed the wand at Livingston.

“Hey, asshole, leave her alone!”

He turned, saw Emily who was barely able to keep herself from toppling over, and he put his hands up in the air but it was in mockery. “Oh! No! Please don’t hurt me little Kitty!” Then his voice changed into a lunatic’s growl. Emily could see blood dripping from his knuckles. “Put that down before you hurt yourself, stupid girl. Do you even know whose wand that is?”

“You should…afraid, Longbottom.” Joe spoke again, even though it seemed to cause her pain to do so. “That is her father’s wand.”

Livingston’s eyes widened.

“What? You can’t be serious. Dulcimere’s daughter died years ago!”

Joe shook her head with a certainty that was unmistakable.

“Wrong. You killed her sister. Headmaster Dulcimere is alive and well, in her!”

“Headmaster? Du-du-dumbledore? My father?”

“Yes.”

A switch flipped inside of Emily and she felt the sudden change in the air as if a new life had been breathed into her.

“Give it to me! Give it to me and I might just let you–”

Livingston never got to finish his sentence. A numbing sensation coursed from Emily’s brain, through her arm and finally exited through her fingertips. The wand shook but not so much that she could not control it. A green blinding flame erupted from the tip and leapt directly where she wanted it to go. The beam punched Livingston in the waist and dragged him with the force of a cannonball until he crashed through a bookcase and was buried deep within its remains. Livingston did not move nor would he for a very long time.

“Good shot!”

Emily whirled around and saw Seth, leaning up against the nearest support. He smiled at her, through his bruises and patches of dried blood and dirt.

“Did I…is he…?”

Seth told her that he was not dead, though he deserved that and much worse for the crimes he had committed ever since he had first defected. He limped towards Emily. 

“Joe was right about you. There is magic inside you. There always has been. Now you just need to learn how to use it. Come on.”

Together they ran to where Joe lay and helped her to her feet. One of Joe’s eyes was swollen shut but she was still breathing and that was a huge relief. Her one good eye opened, saw them both and she smiled as best she could. A tear ran down her cheek.

“Emily. Your father would be proud. You must have questions. There will be time…later. The manuscript has many answers. Help me up. Let’s get the Hell out of here.”

Seth took her in his arm and as they walked they rested their heads together, cheek to cheek. Emily was not surprised to see him turn and tenderly kissed her on the forehead. Joe responded by patting his face. It did not take them long to reach the Bookdragon, which had the last of the soldiers, cornered and pleading for his life.

Emily offered Joe her wand. Joe shook her head and told her that there was nobody she could imagine who deserved it more. Just as Emily had done, Joe held out her hand and her own wand came to her. The tip began to glow with a spreading blue light that shot up into the ceiling. This got the Book-Dragon’s attention so much so that he stomped over to them as obedient as a trained puppy.

They met each other halfway as the magical creature skidded to a stop then knelt down for them to hop aboard. Emily winced at the burns on the dragon’s hardbound hide as she climbed up its wing. She helped Seth and Joe up and in sure footing then adjusted her bag so that it was between her and the dragon.

“Fly!” 

One word from Joe was all it needed to hear. The Book-Dragon spread its wings wide, got a sprinting start from one end of the building to the other, then it flapped and nosed upward, crashing through the ceiling. Emily screamed in both fear and delight as they broke out of the building and out into the open air. Debris tumbled behind them and the wind picked up, kicking into their faces. It brought tears to her eyes. Emily could not bear to look down but she felt herself climbing higher and higher above the city skyline. Far from their attackers they flew, the further from the ground that they got. It felt good to Emily to be free at last from that horrible nightmare below them.

They soared for what felt like a long time before Emily dared sit up on the Dragon’s back. She felt refreshed as she stretched then turned to her companions with a smile stretched across her face but it shriveled away in the instant that it took to make sense of what she was seeing.

There was nobody there. Seth and Joe were gone.

Emily screamed and looked down just long enough to see two slight dots tumbling downward into the pale landscape. They spun around but their descent was uninterrupted. Emily turned away when she felt that she could not bear to look any longer then cried into the dragon’s back, pounding her fist as if to punctuate every word that flung out of her. The dragon seemed to take no notice or was merely incapable of it.

“Stop! Go back! Get them before they…”

8

An hour passed by before they touched down on the outskirts of a dry and desolate almond orchard, far away from L. A. and any of her would-be attackers. Thick plumes of dust wafted up into her face and she batted it away. Emily slid down the back of the dragon, landing on her feet and staggered a few paces before the magic which had held her coach together expired. In less than a minute, what had once been a majestic magical creature was reduced to nothing more than a massive pile of books.

Emily turned away from it and walked into the orchard as long as she could until the weight of everything that had happened came crashing down on her and she fell to her knees. She broke down and cupped her hand over her mouth as she cried once more. Down the lane a lithe jackrabbit darted off into the distance but otherwise she was all alone. The strap to her back slid off of her shoulder and fell at her lap with a thump.

Emily’s hands moved as if on their own accord, lifting the flap and checking to see if everything was there still. It was indeed. The manuscript was there, the contractual offer from Random House and the book…the book! It seemed like ages since Joe had taken the book and signed it for her. Emily slid it out of the bag, set it down on her lap and with a nervous sigh, she peeled open the cover and there she found J. K. Rowling’s inscription:

“Dearest Emily,

You don’t know how much it means to me to be here with you now. The last time I saw you was when you were just an infant. We did what we had to in order to protect you from your father’s enemies. At the time, Harvey Valentine was waging a war against any wizard that would oppose his dominion. That’s right. Harry, Voldemort, they are in reality the hero and the villain, one and the same, and we defeated him! Unfortunately, a new threat rises to pick up his mantle of terror, trampling over everything that we have worked so hard to accomplish. The peace and the treaty will soon be broken. Take care of my final story. Take it to Howth Castle where you will find my friends. They will help you to nurture your gift–bending and shaping it into fruition so that one day it may rival your father’s. He gave his life so that we could be free from the evil that seeks to consume us. He never stopped loving you. Take care, my dear Emily. Go to Howth Castle. Go in peace.

(Signed)

J. K. Rowling

“Hermione”

Emily read the inscription again and again until she had it memorized, then she looked up at the light filtering through the branches of the almond trees and knew what she had to do. She had a flight to book and a book to read along the way. Emily stood up and started walking.