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

[alt_sally_anne]

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.

Comments

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[alt_sally_anne]

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

Something to look into, maybe.

[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

[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.

[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.

[alt_susan]

Do you think the twins could do it?

They're pretty snitch at Charms.

Maybe they could practise at least?

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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?

[alt_ron]

That's an excellent idea, Sue.

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

[alt_susan]

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

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.