Order Only: Any News?

[alt_sirius]

Any further word, any of you? How has the Ministry been today, Bill? Charlie, have the dragons settled down?

If something large is occupying their attention, maybe we could turn that our to advantage somehow. Could we stage another large breakout like Derby? Maybe get Davidson and Turner into position somewhere in the south?

Or ... has anyone checked the wards? Frank, fancy a sail? I'm sure we'd have known if suddenly the country became accessible to the outside but if the anti-muggle charms weren't affected then perhaps no one's noticed.

But there must be something we can do.

Comments

[alt_lupin]

I think getting people into position is a good thought. And checking on the wards.

[alt_sirius]

Right.

Allie, Mac, Kingsley: What camps are ready to move? We could send a message on the buttons, don't you think, and tell Davidson and his people to prepare for some cover as the others break out.

Or. Maybe Beth's group but they're not usually one for large-scale operations.

[alt_alice]

We could look into Hertfordshire, Harlow, and possibly Chipstead

[alt_alice]

We know so very little right now, which is maddening. Distressed dragons, cancelled meetings, and a painful Dark Mark don't give us much to go on. Whatever it is, however, it might be prudent to quickly look into some options while everyone seems otherwise occupied.

I agree that it's worth looking into the wards. I'll have Victor and Frank take out the Hopeful to check on them and see whether they're stable or not. Sirius, if you wish to go with, you certainly could -- you're just as familiar with them as anybody.

If the wards are down, a large breakout might be in our interests. If not, though, keeping all those bodies fed and safe is a rather daunting undertaking, and our resources at both Moddey and Sherwood are not capable of handling a large influx of people.

[alt_sirius]

Well, I think the idea would be to scatter them about, make for the coasts. Force the Ministry to spend time and resources rounding them up or choose to cover it up and let them hide.

I'm not suggesting we take several hundred Muggles under our wings. I'm sure they have ideas of their own once they're free.

[alt_frank]

we could arm two dozen muggle born. arming them means making it more likely they could keep themselves safe, and whoever's with them. if they were sharp.

muggles'd be another matter.

[alt_alice]

They would have several months before winter, which helps.

In terms of numbers, if we armed twenty-four Hogwarts trained people who knew what they were doing, let's assume they could protect and defend two to three civilians for every wand arm. It might be a tough sell to convince them to protect Muggles unless they are related, though.

Perhaps rather than scattering, we have them form a colony of sorts?

[alt_alice]

Only there's the trouble of leadership and resources. Which are both significant.

[alt_lupin]

They'd be sitting ducks, then. Even with two dozen trained wizards, I can't see them surviving a serious assault from MLE.

[alt_frank]

agreed that we ought to avoid that if at all possible.

a massacre isn't what we're aiming for here.

[alt_sirius]

No, what we really need isn't someplace that they escape from or run to, but someplace they take over and hold.

Someplace they could protect. A camp's too large for that, though. The Ministry would have to attempt to take it back.

A farm or factory might drop out of sight unnoticed, though. Someplace like Oliver Wood's family's homestead. If it still existed.

[alt_frank]

farm takes care of the resource problem, yeah

and we could make it secure.

it'd be tricky to pull off, but while everyone's distracted we'd have a better chance than usual.

[alt_lupin]

How would we secure it? Are you thinking we'd use Fidelius?

Sally-Anne Perks is fostered on a farm, of sorts. There's at least one muggleborn there (without a wand) and it doesn't sound particularly well guarded. It's in Coventry. I don't know that it's particularly defensible, unless we could make it disappear off the map with Fidelius, and from what I've heard, it might be too big for that.

[alt_frank]

like that, yeah.

maybe a bit smaller.

the key with those farms is we'd need to include enough of the fields to make it worth our while.

it was a wonder we pulled off moddey like we did, and if we did it again we'd need damn good luck

unless

tonks, you think that celia's project would work? she said she thought she could pull off a notice-me-not or something similar using some anchoring runes, like the ones on the octoboros, and that she thought it'd cover a fairly large bit of ground. she's been working on some mock-ups but we haven't got the chance to test them yet.

could buy us some time.

if it works.

and if it doesn't, it'd still be worth trying for.

[alt_alice]

I'd rather we not put undue attention on Ms Perks, so not the Strettons.

But some place similar to that.

A farm that could feed itself, perhaps help feed others, and could be fairly self-sufficient with the addition of some wands.

I've a feeling Davidson and Turner would be very interested. I'm sending Stephen over there right now to talk with them. Kingsley, Mac, could you meet him there?

[alt_nymphadora]

Yes, that's what Cecilia said. We should ask her if she's ready to try it on a proper project. If it would work, it could buy us time and space for the warding ritual.

If it doesn't work, well, we'll just have to work as fast as we can and hope we're lucky.

And if she can't manage it yet, it could still be useful after the fact. I mean, if we do manage to fidelius a farm, somebody's sure to notice it vanishing off the map. They couldn't get in, but MLE could make sure our lot couldn't get out and that would make things difficult. A 'notice-me-not' would be dead useful in that sort of situation, wouldn't it? Make them forget what they're there for, and I bet they'd bugger off sooner or later.

[alt_alice]

Cutting them loose and hoping for the best isn't sitting well with me. Getting them out is one thing, what to do after is entirely another. We're in a good position to do the former, but we need a bit more thought about the latter.

[alt_charlie]

Shouldn't we ought to ask them, and let them make their own decisions?

But, yeah, I agree with Sirius. We need a place for the future in case something like this happens again, more than we need to meet a short term goal of helping people escape.

What would the ideal safe place look like? Something like Moddey, but bigger. Except then you'd run into the problem of having to hide it.

No more information from here, by the way. Director Higgs didn't show up for breakfast, and nobody's seen hide nor scale of him all day, but it's not the tense kind of wait where everyone's waiting for the axe to drop. A lot of gossip about what could have been affecting the dragons last night, but nothing more.

[alt_sirius]

Yes, exactly, Charlie. That's my point. We could send them a button message alerting them to an opportunity. It's up to them what to do with the chance but we ought to let them know one might be coming.

I've been thinking. There are those mill towns in the north, hardly anyone sets foot in them anymore, and I bet even a largish group could go undetected for a while. But then there's the problem of food and supply.

A farm's a good option. I wonder if Terrie thinks her outfit might be ripe to disappear off the map. Probably not but she might have an idea of a competitor or something.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah. I think we need to start building as much infrastructure as we can. If it weren't for the fact half the people up here are political appointees, I'd say the Reserve would be a good option, since we have the dragons, but they are. We don't have much in the way of farmland either.

I agree with you, though, whatever's going on is certainly sending things into enough upheaval that we should take advantage of it. Bill, have you heard anything else?

[alt_nymphadora]

I agree that a farm is better than trying to take over any of the camps.

Whatever's happening inside the Ministry, it's got something to do with Purity Control and maybe with the chap who oversees the muggleborn labour programme, Rupadam. I think that's what he does, but anyway, if they're looking at him they may be paying more attention than we'd like to the camps. Or some of them. The ones with Muggleborns in.

But I like the idea of trying to take one of those big farms. They'd be able to feed themselves, for one thing. And some of them must employ loads of people who'd like to be free.

[alt_nymphadora]

Sorry. Just getting home now. I got held beyond my shift.

What madness!

Honestly, there's something big about to break, and it's internal to the Ministry. Or involves people who are.

At the start of our shift, we got reminded to keep our eyes out for anything DIRRT ought to know about. But then, not an hour later, here comes my supervisor and some bloke who's got to be MLE, though I'd never seen him before, and they tell me to stop what I'm doing. As if I were doing something illegal. And they marched me out of there and down to our staff room.

I was almost pissing myself, I promise you.

But then the whole building staff were there, and they shut us all in. Told us we couldn't leave. Pulled us out one at a time to ask exactly what we'd touched. What had we scourgified? What other charms had we used? That sort of thing. Had we seen anything we thought we should tell them about?

And then they kept us there. Until half-twelve for a shift that lets out at half-seven.

I don't suppose there's anything in the Prophet yet? There will be. Count on it!

[alt_lupin]

Nothing in the Prophet. Nothing on the wireless, either.

[alt_nymphadora]

Well, that's annoying.

I'd really like to know.

[alt_lupin]

Well, whatever's going on, I think we can safely assume that the Death Eaters want to keep it hushed up. The Prophet's been known to print things Lucius Malfoy didn't want to see -- Sirius Black's picture, for instance, after the QWC -- but it seems to have generally been accidental.

[alt_nymphadora]

And the ones who did it met with accidents shortly after, too, I'd bet. Which explains why it doesn't happen more often.

[alt_lupin]

Oh, I don't know if they bothered to pretend it was accidents.

But yes.

[alt_lupin]

So do you think it was DIRRT, or MLE, that was investigating? Where were you when they pulled you out?

[alt_nymphadora]

Oh.

Actually, I assumed DIRRT, you know. At the start, but the bloke who marched me out of that office wasn't with them. They wear an arm band and a cap, and they want you to know exactly who's asking you to spill on your shift-mates and the people you clean up after. This one was MLE or Auror, I think. I'm really sure of it.

I was up in Purity Control, actually, when they stopped me. Mr Rupadam's office.

[alt_alice]

I see.

I seem to remember his working with Arthur. I hope that's not a bad sign.

Bill, I assume you and Nick and the rest of your crew are treading very carefully.

[alt_nymphadora]

I don't like that we've not heard anything from them today. Especially Nick. His cubicle is right up there with Rupadam's and Rosier's in Purity Control.

Remus has been trying to get me to say it was Rosier's office they were interested in, but I don't know. I mean, I was in Rupadam's when they barged in. They could've been going to sweep the whole place, including Rosier's. Or not. I don't know. And it does seem they were interested in more than just Purity Control, since they stopped the whole lot of us from cleaning last night.

Still nothing on the wireless. We've had it on all day.