“My Magic Belt, in fact, I think you’ll find,” said the Nome King. “Ozma stole it from me. The most powerful magical object in my possession. She threatened me with terrible weapons and removed it from my body as I lay helpless on the ground. As I said, I barely escaped with my life.”

“Those ‘terrible weapons’ were eggs!” cried Ginny. “Just eggs! Just hen’s eggs! She didn’t even bring them on purpose! And you were threatening to kill her and all her friends — “

“She marched an army into my kingdom!” said the Nome King.

“There were only twenty people in that army, and only one of them had a gun, and it didn’t even work right — “

“Not to mention that hen and that beastly mechanical man!” cried the Nome King, turning red with anger.

“Shut up!” said Hermione. “Kreacher! Explain!”

“Ozma’s Magic Belt,” said Kreacher, “can Apparate anyone or anything from one place to another, quick as a flash. Ozma could bring us all to Oz at any time. But Mistress, what good would that do? She would only capture you! We did not want that to happen.”

“It sounds like she could capture us at any time if she wished,” said Neville.

“We are trying to get to Oz,” said Hermione. “We are trying to get to Oz to talk to Ozma. Don’t you understand that? That’s what this is all about.”

Kreacher lay on the ground sobbing. Coddie stood next to him, eyes squeezed tightly shut, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Look,” said Hermione coldly, “I just don’t understand at all. You can’t just go along with us, for days, spying on us and telling Ozma all about us, and not telling us anything. You need to pick a side. Either tell us everything you know or just… just… just go away.”

The house elves just went on sobbing.

After a few minutes, Neville reached out and took Kreacher by the hand. “I don’t understand either,” he said, “but I know you’re doing the best you can.”

The expression of kindness made Kreacher sob even harder. He gripped Neville’s robes with his tiny bony fingers, buried his face in them, and wept with great wracking heaves.

“I’m sorry,” said Harry, “but I agree with Hermione. If you guys are giving information to Ozma, we can’t have you with us. You’re going to have to leave us.”

“Kreacher can’t leave,” whimpered the house elf, his voice muffled by Neville’s robes. “Kreacher can’t leave master.”

“You’re going to have to,” said Harry firmly.

“But where can we go?” asked Coddie miserably.

“Go somewhere safe,” said Ginny. “Find somewhere safe. Do you understand me? And wait for us.”

Coddie looked up at her, blinking her wet eyes slowly. She nodded.

“Come, Kreacher,” said Coddie, tapping Kreacher on the shoulder. Kreacher slowly composed himself, assisted by Neville gently stroking his old head. After a few minutes, he straightened up to something like attention and bowed to them all.

“Kreacher and Coddie will go,” he said. “We will wait for you. Someplace safe.”

Coddie then looked up and away, seeming to see something invisible to the rest of them. She lifted one hand and crossed her fingers in an odd way. And the and Kreacher vanished away, with no warning, so sound, and no flash of light. One moment they were there; the next they were gone.

“I thought they couldn’t Apparate?” said Ron.

“My guess,” said the Nome King, “is that they have simply been rescued by the Princess Ozma, using my Magic Belt. No doubt they are even now being welcomed to the Emerald City.”

Hermione shook her head. “I just don’t understand,” she said. “I trusted them. I believed in them. And they were spying on us the whole time. Telling Ozma all about us.”

“I do believe they were doing the best they could,” said Neville loyally. “You could tell how sad they were.”

“If they were so sad about it, why not just, you know, not do what Ozma said?” said Ron. “Why are they so loyal to her?”

“So she can see everything we’re doing?” said Hermione. “And just Apparate people wherever she wants? How can you fight against someone like that?”

“We’re not trying to fight Ozma,” said Ginny firmly. “We need to talk to her. We need to see why she’s doing this. She’s not an evil person. She’s powerful, but not evil. She must have some reason.”

“Then why doesn’t she just come here and tell us?” asked Ron. “Good people don’t just steal peoples’ magical powers, without any warning. Without at least, you know, a note or a card or something.”

“Right!” said Hermione. “Even the utility company gives you a month’s notice before they shut off your power.”

“What are you on about?” said Ron. “Is that a Muggle thing? Muggles have powers that can be shut off?”

“I’ll explain later,” said Hermione.

The Nome King shook his head sadly. “It is clear that you humans have much to learn about fairies,” he said. “And the Princess Ozma is a very, very powerful and dangerous enemy, as I have often discovered. In fact, it was foolhardy of Rinkitink to give you aid and advice, for he may have made himself a target of Ozma’s wrath. I myself may be in danger if I help you any further. Nevertheless, I may be able to give you some small assistance.”

“How?” asked Hermione.

“I dare not say anything further here. But follow me.”

He gestured to a few of his servants to accompany him, and the wizards gathered themselves up from the floor and followed them to a large opening at the edge of the cavern. They went into a wide tunnel sloping gently downward. Here it became even darker, with only the occasional dim glowing ember embedded in the walls to light their way.

“Where are we going?” asked Harry, but the Nome King did not answer. He led them in silence for many minutes, through many twists and turns in the passage, turning left or right at various intersections, until he arrived at a dead end. There was a large metal door here, with a huge wheel in the center of it. Three of the Nome King’s servants took hold of the wheel and, with evident effort, turned it slowly, and they could hear clicks and thumps as locks and tumblers unlatched themselves. Then the door swung open, revealing an utterly black area beyond. The air from within was cold, and seemed stale and dusty and dry, like a tomb.

Wordlessly, the Nome King gestured for them to follow him in. Two of his servants brought glowing embers with them for light, and a couple of wizards lit their wands for good measure. Then the servants closed the door behind them.

At last, the Nome King spoke. “I believe this tunnel is safe from Ozma’s Magic Picture,” he said. “I have worked for many decades to develop magic to counteract hers, and I think I have succeeded. There is no way to be sure, of course. But I think we are safe here from being overheard.”

He smiled and tapped the tunnel wall, looking proud of his handiwork. “Over the course of many months, my loyal Nomes dug this tunnel out of the bedrock under my kingdom. The tunnel leads under the Deadly Desert, under the Land of Oz, directly to the Emerald City itself. In fact, it emerges under the garden outside Ozma’s Palace. I had it dug so that we — the Nomes and our powerful allies — could march into Oz and have our vengeance on Ozma for the tribute and treasure she stole from us.”

“When will you attack?” asked Ron. “Are you ready now?”

The Nome King laughed bitterly. “No, we attacked nearly one hundred years ago,” he said. “Thousands of Nomes, and thousands of our allies, the Whimsies, the Growleywogs, and the Phanfasms, all marched through this tunnel, and would have easily conquered Oz; but Ozma was too wily for us. She filled this tunnel with dust, so that we were incredibly thirsty when we arrived. And so when we emerged from the ground, we drank immediately from the nearest palace fountain. That fountain, unfortunately, was the Fountain of Oblivion. As I mentioned to you before, I forgot everything I had ever known. I was easily tricked into ordering all our armies back home again, and she blocked the tunnel.”

“That’s horrible,” said Hermione.

“Well, at least you weren’t destroyed,” said Luna. “It sounds like her magic is incredibly powerful. She might have killed you all.”

“Well, no,” said the Nome King. “We are immortal beings; we cannot be killed. It really was the easiest way for her to be rid of us. I’m sure she would have killed us all if she could have. But the important thing, my friends,” he said, “is that this tunnel still exists. It goes exactly where you need to go. It takes you safely under the Deadly Desert, directly to the heart of Ozma’s realm. It remains dusty, for it is a magical dust that cannot be dispelled; but I can of course provide you with water and provisions for the trip. It should only take a few days. And if my magic works as I think it will, you will be invisible from Ozma’s Magic Picture, so you will arrive undetected. You will only need to crack through the blocked opening, and you will take the Princess completely by surprise.”

Harry looked at the others. They seemed uncertain, but also excited and determined.

“Sounds perfect,” said Harry. He gripped his wand firmly. “Let’s get started.”