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_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.