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_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.