Order Only: Button Button Who's Got the Button?

[alt_sirius]

We've cracked it.

I've just tested a set with Davidson's help.

The buttons are all different designs, with two important things in common: They are all metal buttons with a shank style of fastener and a metal backing that fits onto the front.

I've put a notch in the metal backing on each one: When the backing is lined up with the 'T' for the top of the button, the button is set to send a message. When it's lined up with the 'B' on the bottom, it receives.

Unlike Hermione's, one doesn't trace the letters to appear round the edge of the coin. Instead, one taps the button in a pattern. Davidson and I adapted it from Morse Code so that it's not quite the same but close enough that anyone who knows Morse could adjust fairly quickly. There are sure to be quite a number of Muggles who know it.

The best part is that it doesn't require a wand. It's simply on, all the time. We'll instruct everyone to keep their buttons set in receiver mode unless they need to send a message, and to switch it back as soon as they've finished.

Davidson, Moony and I were discussing it and think that the best way to use them is sewn on to a shirt or jacket button, at the wrist, or perhaps a collar or somewhere else it'll be in contact with skin, so it'll be felt when it pulses. We can charm them so that once sewn in place, they shan't fall off (but they can be removed and sewn onto another garment if desired).

I've set the spell so that each message will be preceded by a single long, five-second pulse. It will feel like a vibration against the skin. Then the message will start. Anyone receiving it can pinch their button for another five seconds to request a repeat; it can be repeated up to three times before it expires.

Now that we know it works, I'm going to make up sets of twelve each. Each set will go to a camp, with a 'master' button that Davidson and his group will hold. They can send messages to any camp that way, but the messages in the camps will go to a limited number of people and can spread from there. Davidson also mentioned the tactical advantage of a trusted agent outside each camp and I agree, completely.

Alice, I can make a set for the Moddey Dhoo kids' parents and give you the master button for someone at the sanctuary, if you like. It's probably going to be a fair amount of work monitoring the communications; that's why Davidson volunteered one of his people with experience in Morse (or 'Maurice' as we're calling our variation). Then again, if a large number of the recipients in the camps are our kids' parents, then perhaps we don't need a separate set - only I didn't think everyone in their camp would appreciate knowing details about the children, necessarily.

Comments

[alt_bill]

My word, that's ingenious. Well done.

Learning the code won't be too much of an obstacle for the users though, I hope? I can see why we would expect our contacts at the camps to pick it up--and in fact, the more difficult the code is, the better protection for us, I suppose. I just don't want it to be overly difficult for the parents to learn. I do think it's an excellent idea to make a button group for them.

[alt_molly]

Oh, I'm sure the parents will be delighted to learn it, if it's a way that they'll be able to get news more regularly about their children. That was obvious to me during our visit to Jane Briden's parents: they are so very hungry for any scrap of information we could give them.

[alt_kingsley]

What sorts of messages do you think might go out to the parents, Molly?

[alt_molly]

Oh, I suppose messages that give the parents an idea of their daily lives, don't you think?

'Today the children began to plant the spring vegetable garden.'
'Two children received their wands and levitated a feather for the first time.'
'Victor's sausage pie was voted the most popular dinner of the week.'
Birthday announcements, someone has caught her first fish...the little details that keep the parents feeling connected. We need them to keep feeling connected, that they didn't make a mistake to entrust their precious children to us.

[alt_sirius]

Shouldn't be a problem, no. It's probably the best-known of all Muggle codes. Each letter is replaced by a combination of long or short pulses. Learn the pulse sequence and you can interpret any message. Davidson and I made a few minor changes just in case anyone catches on who is not part of the network.

[alt_kingsley]

This is wonderful news, my friend. It will particularly invaluable is disseminating information quickly. And warnings, if necessary.

How quickly could you have a group made for the parents? Will it be problematic to add new users as we go, as more children come to the sanctuary?

[alt_sirius]

We'll have the first sets ready by Sunday evening. And as long as I can access the master button, we can expand the groups.

I think the ones for the camps should stay at 12 each, though, and rely on the contacts to spread the word from there.

[alt_kingsley]

I think that's a sensible precaution. Yet twelve is enough that they can quickly forward any information sent along at good speed, and it will ensure that there will be at least several people to receive the message, even if some miss it for some reason.

[alt_pomona]

Very clever.

One thing, perhaps, to ask, is when those messages might be best sent. There may be times when something is most urgent, but - well. These people work, may be observed, may not be able to stop and count or repeat a message easily. Are there times when most of the camp is in private, or could be?

I have schedules much on my mind at the moment, and it made me wonder.

[alt_bill]

Another thing that occurs to me: the button would have to be put on something they wear all the time. Every day.

[alt_terry]

Unless they string the button on a string bracelet like Hermione's and I wear? With a notice-me-not charm on it?

That way they could feel the button's signal even if they change their clothes.

[alt_gredforge]

That's a good idea.

Or if they're wearing pyjamas.

Or even no clothes at all, like if they're showering or bathing. They wouldn't miss a message.

[alt_poppy]

That's marvellous, Sirius. The buttons, but also the code and your strategy for disseminating them. I agree that a set for the parents would surely be gratefully received.

About the things themselves... When you say they'll be shank buttons, do you mean there will be a cotter pin or toggle that will hold them in place but make them easy to transfer from garment to garment? I think that's quite clever.

[alt_sirius]

We thought they'd be sewn but then it's not really my area (or Davidson's). The point about all these comments is that it will be up to them to decide how best to wear them, or when to send messages, or how to use them. Obviously the instructions should include suggestions and stress that they need to be kept secret from their captors - beyond that, I think there's actually a wisdom in not dictating how or where, to keep their use inconsistent and personal.

[alt_poppy]

That makes excellent sense. For any number of reasons.