At the Emerald Gates

At last, as the sun began to set behind them, they spotted another gleaming star on the horizon ahead. This one had a definite greenish tinge. It had to be the Emerald City.

He saw that the Tin Woodman, riding up ahead behind Hagrid, was gesturing that they should land. Below them, the farmland had become less expansive and more like a crazy-quilt woven by a master of jigsaw puzzles, with small, irregularly-shaped farms clustered together, bordered by a mix of trees standing by little brooks. The farm houses were still shaped like half-buried balls, but there was now a mix of yellow, orange, forest green, and other earth tones. The great river they had been following was now very wide and slow, with many small boats and rafts plying it. The Tin Woodman was gesturing towards one particularly round orange house.

They landed in a pumpkin patch right by the house. Ron almost fell off his broom in surprise: the house was, in fact, a giant pumpkin, about the size of a one-room home. There were windows carved into it about halfway up, and a nicely made wooden door. In the doorway stood an extraordinary man — by far the most extraordinary man Ron had ever seen, and Ron had not exactly lived a sheltered life.

"Jack Pumpkinhead!" cried the Scarecrow, as the Tin Woodman worked to untie the ropes lashing him to Conca. "It is wonderful to see you! And how is your head today?"

"Quite well, thank you, your Majesty," said the man. "It is quite fresh and I believe it has a good quantity of seeds, so I am feeling quite alert these days."

The man was extremely tall and thin, dressed flamboyantly in purple and yellow. His head was a carved pumpkin, with the requisite triangular eyes and broad, jagged, permanent smile. As he approached, Ron could see that his body was made of carved wood, with long, twiggy fingers. As he walked he creaked and clicked with the sound of wood scraping and creaking.

"Thank you so much for visiting, your Majesty!" said Jack, shaking the Scarecrow's hand. He turned his broad smile on each of them in turn. "And of course I recognize his Excellency, the Emperor of the Winkies. Who are these other new friends? Have I met them before? Sometimes my memory fails me when I have to change heads."

"Jack calls me 'your Majesty' because I was King of Oz when we first met," explained the Scarecrow. "That was before Ozma's time. It's a long story. In any case, Jack, this is Luna and Ron and Hagrid, mortal wizards who have traveled from the other side of the world to see Ozma. And their friend Conca, a Thunderfox."

Jack bowed extremely low. "It is an honor to welcome such remarkable guests to my home!" he said.

Unfortunately he bowed too far, for his head slid gently off his neck — which was just a sharpened stick — and fell to the ground. Jack immediately stood up, hands waving madly, and began staggering around as if blind. Meanwhile his head, upside down on the ground, cried out, "My head! My head! Someone please help!"

Ron was closest and reacted quickest, and he picked up the pumpkin. Its eyes looked up at him and the mouth moved. "Is my head bruised or damaged? Please put my head back on!" it said, and Ron almost dropped it in shock. But he managed to hold onto it.

"Your head seems fine," he said. "But you'll need to stop running around if I'm going to give this back to you…"

The body promptly stopped and stood still, and Ron walked over and carefully stuck the head back on the man's neck. Jack immediately reached up and adjusted his head slightly.

"Oh, that is a relief," said Jack. "I am so grateful to you! I apologize for my awkward construction. But none of us can help the way we're made."

"How were you made, if I may ask?" said Luna. "I've never met anyone so… remarkably put together."

"Yes, I believe I am unique," said Jack, clearly proud of this distinction. "I was made by the Princess Ozma. She is my father."

"Your… father?" asked Ron.

"Yes indeed. She made me when she was a young boy. You see, when she was a baby, she was stolen away by an evil witch and transformed into a boy so that she would be hidden. She was the rightful ruler of Oz, you see, but the Wizard had her hidden away so that he could rule. And while Ozma was a boy, he constructed me in order to scare the witch, as a prank. He fashioned me out of wood, dressed me, carved my first pumpkin head, and used the Powder of Life to bring me to life. After the Wizard left and the evil witch was defeated, he was transformed back into a Princess. But she will always be my father."

Ron was staggered. He'd never heard of such powerful magic. Changing people's sex? For years and years? He had never heard of a spell or potion that could do that. There was polyjuice potion, of course, but that changed you into a completely different person, and wore off quickly. And bringing something like Jack to life — again, permanently! — It was astounding. And very worrying. If it did come to a fight with this Ozma, and whatever other witches and wizards she had on her side… it would clearly be hopeless.

"How many heads have you had?" asked Luna.

"One thousand, seven hundred and thirty three," said Jack. "I was made almost one hundred years ago, and I have to change them every three or four weeks, you see. They spoil. — Which is why I grow my own, in this pumpkin patch. I am never far from my next head."

Ron looked round the pumpkin patch in horror. He felt as though he were standing in a garden of faceless heads.

"Friend Jack," said the Scarecrow, "we are nearly at the Emerald City now, but we have been flying all day and our mortal friends are quite hungry, I am sure. Could you provide them with some dinner before we resume our journey?"

Jack was delighted to help out. "I do not eat, of course," he said, "but I do keep some food on hand for visitors." He invited them in and offered them pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin juice. He also happened to have some apple jam and butter that had been left by a neighbor, and it was excellent on the pumpkin bread. Conca contented herself with sitting in the pumpkin patch, munching away.

"Jack, you are welcome to join us on our mission," said the Scarecrow.

"It would be wonderful to visit with my father," said Jack, "but I prefer not to travel much unless it is quite necessary. I am not very… sturdily constructed; and I have found that there are many, many things in the world which tend to spoil pumpkins rather quickly. But I wish you every success."

"We do not have far to go," said the Tin Woodman. "No more than another hour. It will be dark when we arrive, so I do not know if Ozma will see us immediately, since she sleeps, like other meat people. But no doubt she will provide accommodation for us for the night, and we will have audience with her in the morning."

"We are hoping to meet up with our other friends in the Emerald City," said Luna. "We don't know if they will be there, but we hope so. It would be great if we located them as soon as possible."

"Agreed," said the Scarecrow. "When we arrive at the Emerald City, that will be our first priority."

It didn't take long before everyone was refreshed and ready to go again. They resumed their mounts, waved goodbye to the friendly pumpkinhead, and launched into the air.

It was much different, of course, flying over Oz in the dark. The many colors of the landscape were gone, and the ground was largely black, with only a few scattered lights from farmhouses and other buildings. The sky above was more brilliant with stars than Ron thought he'd ever seen before in his life, even at Hogwarts (which, at the best of times, was half covered with clouds and mist). It was somewhat difficult to see Hagrid ahead of them, but the sound of his motorcycle was easy to follow.

One thing that was very easy to see now was the Emerald City itself. It gleamed like a great pile of emeralds, glowing from within with a viridescent sheen, flooded with lights from the streets and buildings, with clusters of towers and turrets reaching near-skyscraper heights. Surrounding all of it was a tall green wall. As they drew closer, he could see that there were just a few large gates in the wall, with huge highways leading up to them.

It would be possible for them to fly right over the wall and into the city, but would that be wise? And wouldn't it be most likely that Harry and the others would be waiting by the gates (assuming they were here)?

Suddenly he saw a burst of red sparks shooting up from the nearest gate. There was no mistaking it: Periculum, the wizards' signal flare. The fire went up hundreds of feet, well above the height of their flight, and hovered above the spot. Ron saw Hagrid's motorcycle turn and head down towards the gate, and he and Luna followed.

Periculum, a completely harmless spell, thought Ron. But someone had cast it right outside Ozma's gates. Were the others being arrested even now?

But there they were: Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny, standing by the road that led up to gate, huge grins on their faces. It was so good to see them! Ron barely made it off his broom before Hermione had run up to give him a huge hug, and Harry was close behind her. Of course Neville and Ginny also needed to be hugged, and then Ron stood aside as Luna and Hagrid were greeted.

"Took you long enough!" said Harry.

"We ran into some folks," said Ron. "Including some people you probably recognize…"

"The Scarecrow! And the Tin Woodman!" cried Ginny. She rushed forward as if to embrace them as well, and then, abruptly shy, hung back. Those two eminent personages bowed respectfully, removing their hats. They then shook hands all round.

"And this is Conca," said Hagrid, gesturing to the silent Thunderfox. "She's quiet but she's a dear, once you get to know her."

"How did you find us?" asked Ron.

"Well, we've got the white pearl, haven't we?" said Hermione. "After we were separated, it said to simply go to the Emerald City and wait for you there."

"And Ginny is an excellent guide," said Neville. "She could tell we were in the yellow Winkie country and that we just needed to head east. It was a quiet, uneventful journey."

"We've been waiting about half a day," said Harry. "The pearl said you'd be here by nightfall."

"That pearl is extremely handy," said Ron. He looked up at the great gates, which were tall, surrounded by pillars decorated with sculpted ivy and climbing myrtle, and appeared to be made of some kind of green marble.

"What pearl is that?" asked the Scarecrow.

"The white pearl," said Hermione. "It was given to us by King Rinkitink. He also gave us a blue and pink pearl. They have magical powers…"

"Yes, I have heard of them," said the Scarecrow. "That was an extraordinary gift! The King must have thought very highly of you."

"I think we're about to need the white pearl again," said Harry. "We've got a decision to make."

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"Well, are we just going to knock on the door? Ask politely to see Ozma? Or are we going to try and take her by surprise? Because, from what we've seen, if we expect to win in battle against her and her allies, surprise is the only hope we have."

"You got that right," said Ron. "Did you see that pumpkin-headed man she made? And she used to be a boy, did you know that?"

"What do you mean, she used to be a boy?" asked Hermione.

"Someone changed her permanently into a boy when she was a baby," said Ron. "And then, years later, changed her back. She spent her whole childhood as a boy. I mean, what kind of magic can do that?"

"Wicked witch magic," said Ginny. "That was Mombi, the Wicked Witch of the North. She's not on Ozma's side now."

"What happened to her?"

"Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, made her drink a potion that removed all her magical powers."

"Removed all her magical powers!" cried Hermione. "You mean made her into a squib! Just like what's happening to the wizards in our country!"

"Well, yeah," said Ginny doubtfully. "But Glinda is Good. I mean, it's right there in her name."

"Of course Ozma thinks she's good," said Harry. "That doesn't mean she'll be good to us."

"And Ozma has outlawed all magic in Oz," said Ron. "Did you know that?"

"Oh, I forgot about that," said Ginny. "Yeah, I think she does that in the sixth book? She just had too many problems with wicked witches and wizards."

"So any spell we cast breaks the law?" demanded Harry.

"Surely it is simple enough to not use magic," said the Scarecrow. "You would only need it to defend yourself, and you are in no danger here."

"I just cast a spell to show you where we were," said Harry. "The flying sparks. Did you see it? Pretty handy, wasn't it?"

"Nevertheless," said the Scarecrow, but Ron interrupted him.

"That settles it," said Ron. "We have to attack now and attack fast, before they take away all our powers."

"Absolutely not," declared the Tin Woodman. "Ozma is a good, sweet, and wise princess. And it is my duty, as Emperor of the Winkies, to defend her and her kingdom. If you make an enemy of her, you make an enemy of me."

"And me!" cried the Scarecrow.

"And what magic do you have?" asked Neville.

"Well, none, to be completely truthful," said the Tin Woodman. "But my axe is very sharp and quick."

Neville flicked his wand. The Tin Woodman's axe flew from his hands and landed harmlessly some distance away in the grass.

"Ah," said the Tin Woodman, looking embarrassed.

"And you?" said Neville to the Scarecrow.

The Scarecrow looked chagrined. "My brains are widely admired," he said, "but they are, I admit, not otherwise magical."

"Hold on, hold on," said Harry. "Let's ask the white pearl, ok? I mean, it's possible Ozma will be completely friendly and want to help us. There's no reason to attack unless we have to."

"Right," said Hermione. "Hold on."

She dug the pearl out of her bag and lifted it to her ear for a moment.

She frowned. "It says we should submit to Ozma," she said.

"Submit? Submit?" cried Ron. "What does that mean?"

"If she's going to ask us to submit, it doesn't sound very friendly," said Neville.

"It does not," said Harry. "But let's think this through. We can't just —"

"The hell we can't," said Ron. Red rage was rising inside him. "Remember how the house elves betrayed us? Remember how the Wheelers tried to scare us? We've got to get them by surprise. We've got to show them we're tough. Enough arguing, Harry!"

"No!" cried Ginny.

But Ron whirled toward the great gates. "Alohomora!" he cried, jabbing his wand at them. A green bolt erupted from his wand and there was a tremendous boom as the gates began to move. Inch by inch they swung out towards the travelers, and they were forced to take several steps back to give them room. Beyond them was a brilliant pastel green light that made it difficult to see, but it appeared that several people were standing there.

Ron's eyes adjusted after a moment or two, and he could see the people clearly. There was a tall, thin young woman with long red hair, wearing a white dress, and holding a golden wand. Next to her was a shorter young woman, perhaps a girl, with black hair, also wearing a white dress, but bearing a scepter topped with a circle, with a "Z" inside it — a symbol of Oz. On the other side of the tall woman was a short old man in a black suit, wearing a black top hat, and carrying a small bag.

The young girl stepped forward and pointed her scepter at them.

"Mortals," she said, and her voice was youthful and beautiful, but clearly used to command. "Welcome to the Emerald City. I am Princess Ozma of Oz. I regret to tell you that you must be taken into custody and held until tomorrow, when your fate will be decided. Submit now, or my subjects, Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz, will capture you by force."

"I don't think so!" cried Ron. "Expelliarmus!"

Ozma's scepter flew from her hand and clattered on the ground. At once Glinda lifted her arms, flicking her own wand, and Ron found himself hurled backward, falling with such force that he skidded back along the ground for several feet. His wand went flying and was lost somewhere in the dark behind him.

Battle was joined.