Elizabeth Rowle

Gavin stood rooted to the spot, his mouth still slightly open.

The woman before him—Elizabeth Rowle—floated a few inches above the water. Her long silver-gold hair fell over the shoulders of a plain, worn robe, its ends stirring gently in the unseen currents of the Consciousness Space.

At least a dozen questions crowded into his mind at once, but before he could speak, the woman did.

"There's no doubt about it," Elizabeth said. "I'm dead."

She said it as calmly as if she were commenting on the pleasant weather. There was no self-pity or sorrow in her eyes.

"But that's the wonder of magic, isn't it?" She tilted her head slightly, letting a strand of silver-gold hair slip from her shoulder. Smiling, she said, "Even though I'm gone, I can still protect Cordelia."

Protect? The word struck Gavin and sent ripples through his thoughts. A dead mother had left a beam of white light in her child's Consciousness Space. It was unlike any spell he could find in a textbook.

A possibility occurred to him, and his pupils widened slightly.

Not long ago, he had seen this kind of magic with his own eyes.

"You mean—"

"That's right." Elizabeth nodded. "Love Magic."

Gavin was stunned. He had barely thought of the possibility, let alone said it aloud, and she had already confirmed it.

"It's the magic that protected the famous Harry Potter and defeated the Dark Lord," Elizabeth continued. "Magic that protects your child at the cost of your life, using all your magic and all your love."

Gavin stood still, listening to his own heartbeat.

Of course he knew that magic. Lily Potter. Godric's Hollow. The night that left a Lightning-Shaped Scar on a baby's forehead.

A woman about to die—Lily Potter—had used her last magic to turn her