alt_sally_anne | I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good: Safety Planning

Right, then.

I was thinking about trying to get everyone together in the secret room to talk about this but between quidditch and the revue and everything else, trying to work out a time when everyone can be there is just ridiculous. And this probably shouldn't wait until March.

We need to talk about ways to get away, if we have to. Hermione had a portkey, but apparently all portkeys now go to an MLE dungeon. If you go there by accident they'll (probably) let you go but if you're trying to get away from them it won't do.

Things Hermione suggested when we talked about it last night:

* We can go to Madam Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, or Headmistress McGonagall if we need help (can I just note that the Headmistress is rather difficult to get to? unless someone knows the password to her office, and that's only good as long as she doesn't change it). Mr Milland is 'sort of a friend,' I don't know if that means 'go to him as a last resort' or 'he's friendly but not terribly helpful' or what.

* Maybe we could turn part of Pansy's house in London into a safehouse? I'm not sure what would be involved but there's an attic that her mum NEVER goes into and she'd never notice if she stopped being able to get into it. If we could cast the Fidelius Charm -- but you know, the Fidelius Charm is really, really hard. I don't know if we could cast it or not. And it takes a long time, I think, it's not like casting 'lumos' or something. There's also the whole matter of getting there without a portkey. (Though we could floo to Pansy's house and then run up to the attic as fast as we could.)

* Hermione also thought maybe she could work out how to adjust the calculations to make a portkey that works. I don't know the first thing about making portkeys, actually! ... but if Hermione does, that's brilliant.

* And, she suggested we all make bolt bags like we made for Terry. Fred and George are making everyone beads for container bracelets, like the ones Terry and Hermione have. I have one already and I'm thinking about things to add to it. I can't remember what all was in Terry's bag, but everyone could at least nick a blanket and put that in, and some food with preservation charms, and some water. A spare set of robes, but better if they're not Hogwarts school robes (because those are awfully distinctive and they'll attract attention if it's, you know, term time.)

Other ideas? Someone should talk to Fred and George (and Lee) -- that was a good reason to try to meet in the secret room, but I just didn't want to ~~risk~~ wait.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

alt_hermione

I also just made a suggestion to George, Fred and Lee. There are some secret tunnels out of the castle, mostly they go to places in Hogsmeade, but most of them are caved in. We could work on unblocking one or two of them.

Actually I might go to Mr Milland before I'd go to the Headmistress, only because you're right, she's hard to get to and sometimes she can't do much. But there are extra protections on her office, so there's that. Madam Pomfrey could always hide you in the hospital wing and tell people you've got some terrible fatal disease and she would do, too, if you needed to hide, she'd stall like anything to help you get away.

But I think we need to plan for the times when there isn't time to even get to a grown-up.

From:

alt_justin

Hullo, Sally-Anne,

Yes, it's bally well difficult to get us all in the same place, what! I'm rather glad I've brought homework to rehearsal. I say, I do wish Daphne were a little more organised about the schedule; I can't think we're all needed just to sit and wait, what?

But I've been thinking about the options. In any situation, one has three choices: One can run, one can hide or one can fight.

Could one hide in the secret room? Perhaps we ought to think about stocking that, so that one could stay there indefinitely. And there are other places, such as the cave near the village, and the Shack that you lot found third year. Might those serve as temporary shelters or hiding places?

-Justin

From:

alt_sally_anne

Well, there's also 'try to talk your way out' -- is that a form of hiding, would you say?

I'm not even sure what would happen to food if you left it in the secret room -- the room itself changes every time you go in. It's never made food, though.

Anywhere off the grounds could serve at least for a little while, because it would take them time to find us. The Forbidden Forest would be a good place if we could find the amiable Giant before the giant spiders ate us...okay, so never mind, it's not a very good place.

From:

alt_justin

Oh, yes. I thought we were talking about what would happen once it's clear that talking is useless. Clearly one would try that, before concluding that there's no escaping discovery.

No, I think the caves or the Forest ought only to be a very temporary sort of shelter. One shouldn't like to live out of doors indefinitely, even with all the survival charms and skills we've been learning.

I think, if one could get to New London, there are plenty of homes and buildings that have been abandoned, what? We could make one of those a safehouse. I don't know what the Fidelius involves, either, but perhaps one could find out.

-Justin

From:

alt_sally_anne

Oh, New London doesn't have a lot of abandoned properties -- they're either occupied or they've been removed, at this point.

Outlying areas, on the other hand -- there was a whole abandoned muggle village, near where I grew up. But those wouldn't have the floo. We could floo straight to Pansy's house and wouldn't need anyone to apparate us.

About the Fidelius -- Professor Dolohov has books on absolutely everything and given that he spent today talking about cooperative magic and ritual magic and all that, I could ask him about the Fidelius Charm without it being the least bit suspicious.

From:

alt_pansy

My place would have Hitty, who could get us food fairly easily, and yes, it's easily accessible through floo so we could get there quickly.

From:

alt_pansy

We could read up on it, see how tricky it is. If we prepare enough, we can try to do the attic over Easter hols.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Could Hitty serve as a secret-keeper, if we were able to cast the Fidelius?

Something to look into, maybe.

From:

alt_justin

Sorry, you mean New London proper. Yes. I was thinking further into the old city.

The thing about Pansy's house is that it's known to be hers, what. So it would do well if she's not the one who's compromised but very poorly if it were her or anyone known to be a close associate of hers.

But how does the Fidelius Charm work? I mean to say, the attic might become impenetrable but would the entire house do? And there could still be a watch on the square where the house is, couldn't there be?

Not meaning to be difficult, what, just--playing the devil's advocate. I'm sure it's lovely and convenient and comfortable. But if the point is to make sure that it's safe, we'd need to ensure that it can't be linked back to anyone who would use it as a haven.

-J

From:

alt_sally_anne

Well, it's true people would come look in the house, if (say) it was me who'd disappeared.

But -- as I understand it, the Fidelius charm makes whatever's under it kind of disappear. And it's not like it's a big empty space; anyone looking won't notice it's not there.

If we put the whole house under the Fidelius charm, people would come looking and find the house missing and say 'oh! it must be under the Fidelius charm!' and that wouldn't do at all. But if we put just the east attic under the Fidelius charm, people wouldn't even notice that part of the house was missing. If that's even possible, which it might not be, I'm not sure.

From:

alt_ron

Um. There was a whole thing about the Fidelius Charm in one of the Phineas Phelps books, and they couldn't do it at all because it takes a really powerful master of Charms to cast it.

It's just a book, though, so I guess they could have made that up to make the story more suspenseful.

From:

alt_susan

Do you think the twins could do it?

They're pretty snitch at Charms.

Maybe they could practise at least?

From:

alt_ron

You know, Fred and George are really clever and they can do loads of advanced stuff, but they actually can't do everything. We can't always count on them being able to just whip stuff up that no one else can.

Actually. You should have seen this summer, there was this time they were helping with supper, and they were using sending charms to get everything on the table, only they flung the knives across the room so fast, they nearly killed us! Me and Ginny, I mean. Luckily we've got good reflexes.

So, I don't know. Maybe they could learn it, but I don't think we should plan our whole escape strategy around them doing that.

I'll ask them, though.

From:

alt_susan

Yikes! I see your point--especially since they're not on the lock anymore and might not be able to get word to us, or us to them. Short of the r er, things.

But I figure we might as well toss up as many ideas as we can, even if we decide they won't work. I mean, you can never be sure what play is going to get the Quaffle past the Keeper, yeah?

From:

alt_ron

Yeah, there are loads of little abandoned villages in Devon, too. And the twins and Lee and I have done loads of exploring there.

From:

alt_evelyn

But I don't think we'd have to stay there forever.

I mean, I know we want to do some things on our own, but they have to have a place. The Order, I mean. Where they keep all those people safe.

So maybe being able to get to a safe place and having enough supplies to stay put until we're able to go to where they are might be the thing.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Well, the easiest way to ensure we have supplies is to stash them in bracelets. Because if we stock the secret room full of sandwiches with preservation charms but then we can't get to that corridor and wind up hiding in the supply closet in Professor Binns' classroom, they won't do us a lot of good.

Though really even if we have NOTHING, going without food for a week won't kill you (going without water might, but as long as you have your wand you can get water). None of us would be happy about it, but we could survive it.

It's the getting away to a safe place that's the hard part.

From:

alt_evelyn

Yes. So food in bracelets, and then maybe one plan if we can get to a floo, and another if we can't.

Like the tunnels. Or the secret room. Or a place in the Forbidden Forest.

What about the Shrieking Shack?

From:

alt_sally_anne

Wouldn't they check the Shrieking Shack? It seems almost obvious. I mean people talk about ghosts and so on but everyone goes there at least once, usually on their first Hogsmeade weekend.

From:

alt_susan

This might be utterly ridiculous, but what about our brooms?

People often don't think to look up.

There's not much that can do true invisibility outside of a cloak, but maybe Disillusionment charms would make us blend with the sky?

From:

alt_ron

That's an excellent idea, Sue.

I could fly right out of the Tower if I needed to. Excellent.

From:

alt_susan

I mean, there are obviously limitations to them--we can't carry them everywhere, for one, and Accio only goes so far.

From:

alt_evelyn

So maybe there ought to be three plans. A floo plan, a broom plan, and a can't get to either plan.

The floo plan could get us to Pansy's, the broom plan could get us to a village somewhere where we could hide out properly for at least a few days, and the can't get to either plan would be some place close by at Hogwarts.

From:

alt_evelyn

Although we'd have to work on the Fidelius charm first for the floo plan to work, and even then it might be tricky. But it's still worth trying.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Harder to fly out of Slytherin, but it'll work for the rest of you, and it's still a good thought.

What all is near here? Not in Hogsmeade, not in the Forbidden Forest?

From:

alt_pansy

Well, the giant-person lives somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, so going to him might be safer than just the forest in general.

Are there any abandoned Muggle villages in short flying distance? We ought to check a survey map.

From:

alt_susan

I could look while I'm out flying solo, and no one would think it suspicious, since I go out alone all the time.

Unless Umbridge finds a way to forbid solo flying, of course.

From:

alt_justin

Hullo, Evelyn,

I say, do they have a single safe place? They can all Apparate, can't they? (Though.... Sirius has taken me side-along but he detests Apparation, what? It makes him violently sick.)

But you're quite right that we should have a rendezvous in mind, eventually. New London strikes me as too close to the Ministry, in its way. I say, perhaps the key is choosing a place well removed from anywhere.

-Justin

From:

alt_evelyn

I'm not sure. But they have loads of babies, which means they have a place or several places that are safe enough for them. And food to feed them with, and adults to care for them, I'd imagine.

From:

alt_neville

All right. Evelyn and me have something to say.

Way back when I joined the lock, my blackmail secret was that my parents were on the run. Actually, everyone found that out anyway in the end. But we've had a bigger secret than that, and we have received permission to tell you all.

We've been in touch with our parents since we started at Hogwarts. We've even seen them, during the summers. They couldn't tell us very much. Well, hardly anything, really, not for a long time. We knew they were with a secret group, but we had no idea what the group was or what they did until Hermione told us.

Anyway. The fact that we had contact with wanted blood traitors was real dangerous. Obviously. So the two of us have had evacuation portkeys for awhile. Now, of course, they don't work, but Mum and Dad are trying to figure out a way around the problem. We think that if they get us new ones, they might get them for you all, too.

Oh, and when we were trying to figure out what we should put into that knapsack for Terry, before he was rescued, my Dad sent me a letter with a bunch of suggestions. I can dig that out; it has a lot of good ideas for the bolt bags.

From:

alt_neville

Now I guess you understand why I wanted Evelyn on the Lock so badly.

This has been a hard secret to keep from you all. Glad we don't need to do it anymore.

Oh...and Sally-Anne, I think you saw my Dad once. He was watching us when we went to Blackpool for my birthday, and I think you noticed him following us. Remember?

From:

alt_sally_anne

That was your Dad?

Was he at least in disguise?

From:

alt_neville

Yes, it was. He wasn't polyjuiced, but he was disguised a bit with a glamour that altered his features some. And he added a beard and a hat. He doesn't usually have the beard.

From:

alt_neville

Maybe you see now why I was all right with the idea of poison rings--yes, Sally-Anne, Ron talked to me about it. We've had this hanging over our heads for years now, and we've had to think about that, the fear that we could betray someone we really cared about. Except that in our case, it was our parents.

When I face a boggart, it shows my fear that I'll betray them somehow. I suspected it, and we actually tested it last summer, and...yeah. There was no way I could let that get out publicly.

That's why I skipped the boggart lesson third year. And that's why I crashed my broom at the CCF trials, because I knew there would be another boggart as part of the test.

This is also why we've been studying Occlumency.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Ah.

I can understand why you didn't want anyone to see that boggart. ~~Although~~

So they gave you a portkey and found someone to teach you occlumency to keep you and Evelyn safe?

From:

alt_neville

Yeah.

We have no idea where the portkey was going to take us. Somewhere safe; that was all we knew.

From:

alt_ron

You're lucky, really.

Your parents looked out for you-

From:

alt_neville

Well, yours did, too. Didn't they? I mean, after all what was that stuff your dad told you about the patronuses about? They were planning for your evacuation, too.

From:

alt_neville

Maybe the difference was that your parents weren't know to be traitors, but mine were. I dunno.

From:

alt_ron

What was the patronus going to say? 'Run!' It's not like I can Apparate.

From:

alt_neville

Well, I don't know what they would have instructed you to do, but obviously they thought about it, if he explained you should watch for a patronus. Maybe they would be telling you who was going to be apparating to YOU, to whisk you away. I dunno.

And after all, isn't knowing about your safety and whereabouts what your Mum keeps that clock in your living room for?

From:

alt_sally_anne

No one can apparate into OR out of Hogwarts.

From:

alt_ron

Yeah. She has the clock. It means that whenever it says something nerve-wracking, she paces up and down and drops her tea cup.

I dunno what they'd do, but it sure seems that a Portkey would be a better way out of Hogwarts than someone Apparating to Hogsmeade and running up here to find us, cause then we'd have to run back out before we could get away. I figure we'd be six kinds of dead before that worked.

Or, y'know. Already in MLE's interrogation rooms.

From:

alt_ron

That's why I think the rings are a good idea.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Ron

Did YOU have a portkey? ~~Or just~~

~~How long~~

From:

alt_ron

No.

From:

alt_sally_anne

Bloody
hell

From:

alt_ron

Yeah.

From:

alt_susan

I don't mind saying that I still find the thought of the rings terrifying, even though I understand the need for them.

Because being captured by MLE or the Aurors and forced to betray everyone or being used against my family somehow would be more terrifying, and I'm not under any illusion that I'm not the weakest link, here.

It's still hitting me that I'm a member of a highly illegal revolutionary organisation. I mean, obviously I knew that when I was invited and agreed to sign on, but things keep happening to make it sink in deeper, if you know what I mean?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags