Order Only: New London

[alt_sirius]

Well, I'm spending a few days with Moony and - and Dora.

Spent most of yesterday as Padfoot, as you can imagine, mainly watching customers come and go. Dora's got quite a way behind the counter, I must say. Though I think it's wiser for her to pull items from the shelves by means of a summoning charm than going to get them.

She's got an interesting idea, too, about the building across the back courtyard. We talked quite a long time about it last night. I think it has a great deal of potential.

Part of it is very simple. She's been thinking about the half-bloods in her old neighbourhood, and wanting to help them out a bit. So she was thinking, open up the courtyard as a sort of cafe for them. Some of her old biddies can bake little cakes and such, give them a little extra income.

And then I thought of something else.

I noticed that there's a growing number of Muggleborn doing the shopping for their - employers. Remus says lots of the shops round here either refuse to allow them to shop (which is idiotic, for a number of reasons) or they're right shirty with them. As you can imagine, our Mr Ponds and his Laszlo's of London are decent. Well, seems like the word is out. There have been more Muggleborn in recently - or so Dora says.

So here's our idea: We open up a very quiet little operation out the back, where Muggleborn can get themselves a cuppa and a bun or something, and have a sit while they're running their errands. But in the evenings, after the shop's closed, it's a little beer garden or some such for the half-bloods. The evening operation provides a smokescreen for the daytime one, right? And if anyone comes round who oughtn't, everyone can scramble into the abandoned building. It's boarded up on the street side, so there's no access except through the courtyard.

Because I've been thinking, off and on, about that poor girl Hermione told us about, over the summer. The one trying to escape? If Muggleborn come to associate Laszlo with a safe place to come, well. We might. I dunno. We might be able to help them make their way to Davidson or Turner or out into the country, or even down to the borders so they can slip through the wards. (By the way, has anyone heard from Turner? Did they get anyone out at the equinox yesterday?)

Well, Dora and I think it's a brilliant step. Moony's a bit - well, I can't blame him being cautious, but honestly it's not as if we're going to get through this without taking on some risks.

What do you lot think?

Comments

[alt_frank]

interesting. I think that while it is a bit on the risky side, there's a decent chance it'd be seen as Lazlo's attempt to make an extra dollar rather than being seditious, and that officials might not see much harm and would look the other way if they knew of it -- as long as you kept the numbers low so that anyone that ended up paying closer attention wouldn't suspect muggleborn of getting together for the sake of organising, but just getting an occasional load off and a cuppa.

they know that a little behind the scenes action is sometimes necessary to keep things ticking, and they've tolerated the black market and other more casual bartering arrangements pretty well, so if they see it as just that and nothing more, we'd be told to cut it out if we were caught outright, but like I said, there's a fair chance they'd let us be.

[alt_sirius]

Well, I get the sense that if they discovered we'd actually been treating the muggleborns like people, they'd be a sight more than annoyed, but the intention is to keep that part of it very quiet. If anyone suspect came in, the door would not be open, so to speak. But as to the half-blood space, that's easy to explain.

More to the point would be whether their 'masters' realise that they've come home with fewer Sickles in their pockets, having bought tea and cake for themselves - and of course, they'd have to be sensible about how much time they spend taking their ease. But that's up to their common sense, and not really in our control. Though I suppose the staff could drop a warning or two, casually.

[alt_frank]

well, course it would be kept on the quiet side. I'm just trying to think of what the likely response would be if it got out at all, and I really don't think it'd be all that bad.

[alt_poppy]

Well. I think it sounds marvellous in theory, and if even part of it comes to pass as you envision it would be worthwhile. If only as a way for Dora to keep in contact with the neighbours she's left behind. It's surely true that halfbloods must help one another in this world where no one else can be counted on to treat them fairly. If we can do a bit of good in this regard, it would be wonderful. And as for catering to muggleborns and providing them a place and pretext to gather... obviously, I expect Mr Pond and his assistant will be very careful to prevent anyone's taking a notion that they have either a business plan or a political agenda in that regard.

As ever, my motto is 'Think And Take Care'.