When it came time to turn in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rowling's agent and her publisher mimicked secret agents. Christopher Little, her literary agent, called the publisher to meet at a local pub . . . but it wasn't simply for lighthearted beers.
"So I drove to The Pelican, a pub off the Fulham Road not far from Stamford Bridge, in a state of high alert. And I went in and there was a massive Sainsbury's plastic carrier bag at his feet . . . he said nothing about that and I said nothing and he just said 'Drink?' and I said, 'a pint, please,'" described publisher Nigel Newton of the fifth book exchange in Rowling's bibliography. "So we stood at the bar and drank our pints and said nothing about Harry Potter. But when we left I walked out with the carrier bag. It was a classic dead letter drop."
