(no subject)

[stormyhearted]

Well, now we know what Teddy took from Hermione's cubby. And with this post from Mulciber, I get the feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time pushing F5!

Comments

[cheyinka]

Oh dear.

This might be the worst possible way for End of Term Excitement to start, because nobody has any reason to expect something dreadful to happen. (And Evelyn et al might have the portkey right now, too, because it's Saturday.)

And Draco might be hungover. :|

[stormyhearted]

I agree about the portkey. I feel like they've paid too much attention to it, for Hermione to actually have it when she needs it. And now Bellatrix is planning on making an appearance. Today is just getting worse, and no one's the wiser!

At least Ron's managed to transform! Hopefully he'll be back to himself before things get messy...

[kiya]

He's red and orange. Which means he's probably poisonous. He should bite a few DEs on the way by.

[stormyhearted]

We can only hope!

[cheyinka]

Corn snakes are red and orange, and they're constrictors. (And also the snake that Google suggests to me when I search "red and orange snake", but since Google customizes search results that might not mean much.)

[janeite]

He's also a ginger :)

[cheyinka]

Hm. Do you suppose "Brown Dwarf, but Draco" might be some sort of code between Rabastan and Sinistra?

[lucky_guess]

Astronomy! Of course!

[cheyinka]

I mean, it's possible there's something astronomical she was looking forward to - but the capitalization struck me as unusual. The phrasing leaves room for both of them to honestly say "but Draco's been unhappy" or whatever, but I really have to think it's "hide Draco" or something.

[stormyhearted]

I'd say so. From a quick look at google, I'm finding that a Brown Dwarf is a "failed star"- formed the same way as a star, but can't convert hydrogen into helium via nuclear fusion. They're harder to see because they're not as bright as true stars.

I'm not sure how this translates into a meaningful code word, but.

[kiya]

The question in my mind is not "Is that a code" but "What does that code mean".

My guess is "There is a threat to Harry".

[stormyhearted]

I'm not sure it pertains to Harry- Raz's first instinct to Bellatrix was that it was a frame job, and even if he does as he's told, I don't think he'd pass along a message to Siz that Draco was a threat to Harry. I just don't think he'd believe that without overwhelming evidence.

Of course I have no meaningful alternative to offer!

[kiya]

The reason I think the code is for Harry is that he specifically had to substitute Draco in.

[stormyhearted]

Oooh, I misread you. That makes more sense.

[cheyinka]

Yes, that's a good possibility (if my guess below doesn't pan out): "Emergency plan Brown Dwarf, but for Draco rather than Harry"

[cheyinka]

Actually, I'm starting to wonder (on reread) if "It's going to be a bad day" might not be the code.

"Brown Dwarf" could be Hermione - not a true star - and Raz is wondering if the two of them might be being used against Harry. (Especially since Hermione was used to make Harry look bad by Nott Jr. once already this contest.)

and one more thing

[cheyinka]

It also occurs to me that this could be a potential "somebody kills Minerva" moment: she directs people to flee through her floo, hoping that she can arrange death-by-Auror when it's discovered.

[cheyinka]

Things we know:
1) Bellatrix and the Mulcibers have both Draco and Hermione.
2) Bellatrix can tell that Hermione is playing dumb.
3) Bellatrix is not convinced by Teddy.
4) Hermione still has the portkey (or at least she hasn't given it to Evelyn)

[stormyhearted]

I'm hoping that Hermione just used it.

[cheyinka]

I am refusing to hope just yet, because that could be player error.

[stormyhearted]

It's not. It's also not the portkey. :/

[ellemir]

Crap!
Bellatrix has found hermiones bracelet and wand

[cheyinka]

Oh my.

Well, everyone was right that the portkey was being made too much of for it to actually be an effective escape plan!

Now might be a great time for Draco to make an X on a galleon, or even better, something like "RAZ oFFIcE" :|

[worthywords]

Oh, NO!

[ladyrelaynie]

*squeak*

Sorry, that's all I've got right now. That, and the refresh button.

The shit. Hath hitteth. The fan. Eth.

[stormyhearted]

As I said elsenet, I suspect Hermione is going to get her scar from Bellatrix a little bit early...

[ladyrelaynie]

Oh, crap. They have Draco's galleon!

[cheyinka]

Ack! That's... that cannot possibly not be bad. Oh. That is very, very bad.

[ladyrelaynie]

The creature's. Missing. Finger. O.O Oh Lord. They have her means to kill herself too. SHIT.

[cheyinka]

Narratively, we weren't really expecting her to use the ring, were we? Though the

ORDER ONLY: WHO JUST USED THEIR RING?!

panic would be a sight to see, I must admit...

[ladyrelaynie]

No, but the ring was there just in case Hermione knew she couldn't keep quiet much longer, so she wouldn't be able to give anyone away. Now that option is kaput.

It's just worrying.

[cheyinka]

Reasonable supposition.

For right now, it's good that Bellatrix is quailing at having to legilmise a Muggleborn.

It would be positively ideal if she called in her daughter to do it. (Except, of course, no such order would be present in Teddy's mind.)

[stormyhearted]

I'd say it's a safe bet that both the portkey and her galleon were in the bracelet, so Hermione is totally screwed unless she gets rescued.

[ladyrelaynie]

Pretty much.

Hopefully Draco is a really really good Occlumens. Or Bellatrix does have some fleeting affection for him that will make her. Merciful.

Nope. Draco's screwed too.

[cheyinka]

He seems like a really good Occlumens, if perhaps not a really, really good one, because Bellatrix feels she has to use 'enhanced techniques'.

Is this a :) or a :( - I can't decide! :/

[ladyrelaynie]

Can't decide either. I want to believe Draco will choose death rather than give anyone up, especially Hermione, but I have to remember, with all his gifts, he's still just a seventeen year old boy. And if I have to hope for his death as the best case scenario, that just about rips my heart out.

And who knows what they're doing to Hermione. :((((((

[cheyinka]

I don't think that's the best-case scenario! "Draco unwillingly reveals the names of a number of people in the Order, and that the Order of the Phoenix is still extant and is the source of Hermione's wand, and is consigned to Azkaban, from which he is rescued," is a better scenario, isn't it? (And that's still pretty grim.)

[teceler]

Well, I think they know that the Order is still extant, based on Doholov and Barty's investigations, but... yeah.

[ladyrelaynie]

Maybe I meant worst case scenario? Definitely hoping for a stunning rescue of them both.

[cheyinka]

More things we know:
The floo is blocked, probably except the Headmistress's own floo.
Acton is in charge of keeping Teddy somewhere that Nott Sr., the Mulcibers, and Bellatrix know where to find him, but Nott Sr. is insisting on speaking for Teddy for now.

[ladyrelaynie]

Please interrogate Teddy next. Please interrogate Teddy next. Please interrogate Teddy next. Please interrogate Teddy next.

And write about it.

In detail.

[teceler]

Bellatrix just PMed Hyrda!

[cheyinka]

This could be good. Or spectacularly bad. (I think we're too many hours in for 'spectacularly good'.)

On the bright side, if she's with Harry, all she has to do is say, "I have to go right now, check my journal" (i.e. "look for a post from me" or "look at who has written to me") and he can say "Bellatrix just summoned Hydra" without her telling him anything, because that's the obvious assumption.

(Or she could just tell him, which is apparently what happened.)

[stinaleigh]

I saw.


~I have a favor to ask. Can you start a new thread with this so that we can avoid collapse (taking our cue from the fabulous players)?~