TBAY: A long road to a toy boat named DEW DROP

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 46414

Wandering down one of the many dirt roads of TBAY, Meg and Frankie
were deep in conversation about the ins and outs of their RATS BE
DISEASES Pig Dudley theory.

"I just so happen to have an uncle in large animal medicine." Frankie
grins.  "Here's the skinny on pigs.  The Yorkshire hog currently is
the most commonly bred pig because sows have between 14 and 16 piglets
per litter.  These piglets start out between 1.5 to 2 lbs and WITHIN
SIX MONTHS reach market weight of 220 lbs.  That's a little over a
pound per day, and the general ratio of feed to pound of pig is
roughly 2 to 1.  That's two pounds of food for every pound the pig gains."

Meg, looking quite pleased that Frankie's uncle could provide such
vital information, added, "Well, we find that Dudley is now so darn
big he takes up an entire side of the kitchen table by himself.  On
page 27, we read, "that the school outfitters didn't stock
knickerbockers big enough for him anymore."

"True, true," Frankie agreed, as she looked further up the road.
"Meg, what is that?"

"And since they just removed the tail..." Meg continued not paying any
attention to Frankie.

"Meg," Frankie said as she stopped her fellow TBAY'er and force her to
actually look up.  "Look."

Both girls peered down the dusty road.  A small crumpled figure was
lying in the road face down under a rather large willow tree.

"Oh my," Meg gasped raising her hand to her mouth, "who is that?"

Frankie did not stay to answer and ran to the downtrodden girl's side.
 Meg was close on her heels struggling to put her book back in her
satchel.  Frankie crouched down to see if the girl was still
breathing.  Meg held her breath looking around to see if anyone was
near to help.

"She's breathing...barely," Frankie said relieved, "Here - help me
roll her over.  Nothing seems to be broken."

The girls gently pushed the small girl over and rested her on her
back.  Brushing the dirt from the girl's face, Frankie recognized her.

"Meg, it's Melody."

"No.  It can't be.  What is she doing way out here?" Meg asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Frankie mumbled while trying to
revive the girl.  "She seems quite knocked out.  Something must of hit
her hard."

Leaning down to help appraise Melody's condition, Meg observed, "Seems
that nothing is missing, but she has a large knot on her head and a
few claw scratches on her face.  Seems she was attacked and quite
quickly.  Frankie, we have to get her back home to the Safe House."

Frankie nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Pip will be there and will know
what to do."

"Do you think Grey might be there as well?  He likes to go after
attackers and show them - well - the error of their ways," Meg said
with a bit of a sly grin.

"I don't know.  He's a bit fickle lately, but he could be.  The Wolf
has to come home sometime, but for now the best place for Melody is in
Pip's and Sneaky's care," Frankie stated while digging in her book bag
for a way to carry the girl.  Melody might be tiny, but it is hard to
manage carrying anyone who is unconscious.

Frankie found a small box she got in the mail a few weeks ago for
school.  Pressing the little red button, the small package grew into a
hovering padded stretcher.  The girls lifted the still unconscious
Melody onto the stretcher and head south to the Safe House.

Meg still looking around wondered, "Frankie, you don't think she
was...you know...well the rumor is out there, and Melody should of
been pre-warned."

Frankie looked back at her partner, "Meg, I don't think Elkins got to
her.  Elkins may be a bit odd and intense, but she would not do
*this*.  The woman is not..."

"Is not what Frankie?" Meg insisted, "You don't know what she is up to
lately.  It is not like she is around for us to observe her current
state of mind.  She could be on one of her more - well - maniac moods,
and could of..."

"Meg, please.  You and I both know Elkins is more bark than bite.  She
does though manage to preserve her fear aura around her.  Everyone
speaks in such a hush sense of awe.  Still, she would never leave a
TBAY'er out alone on a dirty road."

"Ok, ok," Meg said quickly, "I just was just saying it is a possibility."

Frankie and Meg continued down the road till the lights of the Safe
House came in the distance.  "Good, looks that someone is home.  Hold
on Melody, we're getting there," Meg whispered in Melody's ear.

Guiding the stretcher up the stairs, Frankie paused and knocked on the
oak doors.  Whatever Sneaky was expecting when she opened the door,
needless to say, an exhausted Meg and Frankie with an unconscious
Melody was not it.

"Mistress, Pip!Squeak, Mistress Pip!Squeak," Sneak screamed while
egging Frankie and Meg into the house, "It's Miss Melody.  She is dead
ma'am!  Dead!"

Sitting on the floor surrounded by rather large books labeled Writings
of John and Diplomacy, Pip jumped up scattering her papers and ran to
Melody's side.  "Sneaky go get the bottle marked 'Revenerator' and a
warm washcloth," Pip requested while helping Frankie and Meg lowered
the girl on the couch.  "What happened?"

Frankie and Meg looked at each other not really sure themselves.
"Well frankly, we were walking and just found her.  On that road by
the willow tree," Frankie answered.

"And you don't know who?" Pip asked gingerly placing a pillow behind
Melody's head looking at her obviously bruised head and face.

Frankie started to speak but Meg piped in first, "I think it might be
Elkins."

Pip looked up startled.  "Elkins?  I know she can be a bit bold, but
she has never attacked anyone like this."

"See, Pip.  That is what I told her too," Frankie said glancing over
at Meg.

"Look I know..." Meg started to say, but Sneaky was back with the
bottle and washcloth.

"Thanks, Sneaky," Pip smiled and turned toward her little housemate.
She gave the cloth to Meg so she could wipe away the dirt on the poor
girl's face and asked Frankie to raise Mel's head and gently open her
mouth.  Pip removed the stopper from the bottle and drew out a small
dose of perfectly clear liquid.  Lowering it down, Pip eased it into
Melody's slightly opened mouth and held her breath.

Within a few seconds, Melody drew in a deep breath and tried to raise
her hand to her head.  "Don't do that," Pip said motherly.  Melody
heavily opened her eyes and looked around.

"Oh, mistress, you saved her.  She lives," Sneaky exclaimed jumping up
and down.

"Yes, yes, Sneaky, but calm down.  She should be quite disoriented,"
Frankie urged the little house elf.  "Why don't you bring a pot of tea
for us."

"Make mine a double," Meg added resting down in the chair quite
relieved all is going to be ok.

Melody tried to get up, but fell back.  "What happened?" she whispered.

"We were hoping you would tell us," Frankie said resting in the chair
next to Meg having just poured a cup of tea for the both of them.
[Man, that Sneaky is fast.  :) ]

"I don't know.  I was happily walking when I think the tree attacked me."

Pip laughed.  "Mel, trees cannot attack you in TBAY."

"Why not?  This one did," she said rather hurt they would question her.

The looked exchanged between the three non-head pounding women in the
room told Melody she was not in the least bit thought to be in a frame
of mind to make any judgments on whether trees can attack.

Pip patted her hand.  "Mel, I think you need rest.  Don't worry about
the -erm- tree.  I'll take care of it."

Not wanting to think for fear of completely exploding her head, Melody
submitted to being carried to her room and placed to sleep off her
obvious tree mauling.  Closing the door behind her, Frankie laughed,
"Honestly, 'The tree attacked me.'  Seems that knot on her head did
more damage to her than just bruise her ego."

"Even still, she should be ok by morning.  Thanks for bringing her in
girls," Pip smiled a bit tired.  "Staying over night?"

"Yeah, thought we'd crash in our piggy room.  We'll be off by morning
though.  Got to make it for anatomy across country," Meg said while
Frankie and her headed to their portion of the safe house.

Alone now, Pip carried the tea tray to the kitchen and wandered to her
room.  Closing the door behind her, she wondered how TBAY ever got so
violent.  Seems emotions can run rather high around here.


*******the next morning*********


Feeling a bit heavy headed and definitely a bit sore, Melody did not
want to move the next morning.  It was as if the very concept was so
foreign it did not even exist.  But reality was slowly slipping in
like the light from the crack in the blinds.  Propping her head on a
few pillows, Melody raised herself.  Looking around, she could not
remember how she got here.

Feeling a bit brave and a powerful hunger, Melody slipped down from
her bed and walked to the door supported by her hands on the wall.
She tenderly navigated the stairs down to the kitchen.  To her
surprise, both Pip and Grey were sitting there smiling at her.

"Mel, you're alright." said a gruff voice.

"Hey, Grey.  What are you doing here?" Melody said weakly lowering
herself into a chair to rest her head on the table.

"Well, I heard a voice in the wind and came to make sure our little
member is alright.  Seems you gave Meg and Frankie quite a scare last
night."

"Hey, me too," Pip added pushing a glass of orange juice to the
tousled hair Safe House member.

Melody smiled at their concern.  "I'm alright.  Just a little...shaken."

Grey brought his paw down on her shoulder and raised her face to make
sure her scratches were healing.  "Understandably, but don't worry.
All is ok."

Melody meekly smiled but felt her head pounding.  Grey seemed to
notice her pain and let her lower her head back to the safety on her
folded arms.

"Seems you will heal fine." Grey observed and glanced over at Pip.
"Just need to get your mind off things."

Pip caught the cue.  "You know, there have been a few reading coming
in about one of your tethered toy boats, Mel," she said with a hint of
intent.

Melody looked up from her folded arms, "Really?  Which one?"

Pleased to see her friend having more interest in something beyond
last night, "That one about Dumbledore's watch.  What did you name it?"

"DEW DROP.  It's name is DEW DROP," Melody said loving the prospect on
being about to bring it out.  "Where are the readings?"

Pip and Grey looked at each other and smiled.  "In the library on the
recorder," Grey encouraged.  "Everything is there on the table for you."

Melody smiled and attempted to jump up from the table but was greatly
reminded by her throbbing head that she should not of done that.  Pip
and Grey started to catch her, but she managed to grab the chair and
balance herself.  "Sorry," she mumbled.  "Got carried away."

Watched extremely carefully by Pip and Grey, Melody made her way to
the study.  Everything was just as they said.  Lowering herself into
what is normally Pip's chair, Melody began sorting through the bits of
information that had come over the wire.

One piece of paper read:
------------

Julie A Strangfeld wrote:
<<Dumbledore looks at his watch and sees that Hagrid is late. A lot
<<of us assume that somehow Harry has been added to this mysterious
<<watch. So when the MOM was combing the countryside for Harry, did
<<Dumbledore know he was on the bus heading for London?

------------

Hmm, seems others have wondered what I wonder.  Interesting.  Looking
over a few more snippets, it seems a lot have been wondering about
that little watch.  "How marvelous," Melody exclaimed.

------------

Phyllis wrote:
>>We don't know for sure, but it does seem as if Dumbledore has a way
>>of knowing where Harry is at all times. In CoS, he knows that Harry
>>has arrived at the Burrow after being rescued in the Anglia by Gred
>>and Forge (and sends his Hogwarts letter there instead of to Privet
>>Dr.). And I don't think the Weasleys told him, based on this
>>statement by Molly Weasley in Ch. 4: "Dumbledore already knows
>>you're here, Harry - doesn't miss a trick, that man."

------------

"Ooo, good point there," Melody noted.  "He does seem to always know
where precisely Harry is.  Nice canon there too."  She continued
flipping and fell upon one that was not yet convinced about her little
boat.

-----------

Catlady wrote:
>Why do people assume that Dumbledore's watch is like the Weasleys'
>living room clock in having people's names on the hands and
>conditions around the dial? **small snip**

>And he knew Hagrid was late because he had set a *time* for Hagrid to
>arrive.

------------

Hmm, seems I need to present my case a little better.  Reaching over
to grab her little notebook on said clocks and watches in the wizard
world, Melody began sketching out the structures of her little toy
boat DEW DROP.

--
DEW DROP

Dumbledore's Extraordinary Watch Draws Reconnaissance On Potter

Started from PS/SS Ch1:
"...as he took a golden watch from his packet and examined it.  It was
a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little
planets were moving around the edge.  It must of made sense to
Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said,
'Hagrid's late.'"

Given that this is the only pocket watch we know of in the series as
of date, we are left to figure out what exactly the planets and hands
represent.  All we know is it is "a very odd watch" and not a muggle
watch.


Then in CoS Ch3:
"The clock on the wall opposite him [Harry] had only one hand and no
numbers at all.  Written around the edge were things like 'Time to
make tea', 'Time to feed the chickens', and 'You're late'."

Now, since those are tasks that Molly would normally perform, I
attribute the one hand to Molly, and when that hand turns to one of
the "tasks", it is meant to say she should perform that task.

Also, one of the little messages is "You're late."  Kind of an
interesting parallel to Dumbledore's previous assessment from his "no
numbers" watch I think.


And the final clock in GoF Ch10:
"It [Weasley's grandfather clock] was completely unless if you wanted
to know the time, but otherwise very informative.  It had nine golden
hands, and each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family's
names.  There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of
where each family member might be.  'Home,' 'School,' and 'work' were
there, but there was also 'traveling,' 'lost,' 'hospital,' 'prison,'
and, in the position where the number twelve would be on a normal
clock, 'mortal peril.'"

This clock's intent is to give the general whereabouts of the people
assigned to the hands.  Once again, there are no numbers, but on this
clock, the position are current status of location.

We also have the repeat of the word "golden", but that might be
coincidental.


--

Upon writing that last bit, Melody looked over the few questions to
her toy boat posed and turned back to a bit of Catlady's post.  Hmm,
let's see.

------------

Catlady wrote:
If Dumbledore's watch is an astrological watch, with the Earth at the
center and the planets orbiting it, the twelve hands could represent
the 12 Houses and move in accordance with the watch's latitude as
well as the Earth's rotation. Thus the watch could tell him where he
is as well as what time it is.

------------

True, true, it could be that simple.  If it only told the time based
on the planets, then Dumbledore could of been looking at it to observe
whether Hagrid had arrived by the time he had set.  But, if that is
so, why wouldn't Dumbledore, who actually likes Muggles, just have a
simple muggle watch?  If that was his only intent for the watch, why
all the fancy planets and hands?

Melody looked over her page of canon references.

--

Dumbledore watch characteristics:	Weasley clocks:
"twelve hands"				"one hand" and "nine hands"
"no numbers"				"no numbers"
'Hagrid's is late'			CoS clock "You're late"


Only difference so far is::

Dumbledore's watch:
"little planets moving around the edge"

Weasley clocks:
"descriptions" "written around the edges"

So I put forth that since the Weasley clock is in a language all the
family can understand, then it is possible Dumbledore's watch is in a
language he can understand.  The little planets are moving in a way so
that he can read the intent of the watch.

And from this, I theorize that Harry is one of the twelve hands on
Dumbledore's watch and thus, Dumbledore is able to draw reconnaissance
on Harry.  Then Dumbledore can tell that Harry is at the Weasleys or
out of his safety ring, or even wandering the Hogwarts castle.  Kind
of hand that thing.


--

Hmm, Melody looked over her sheets on the watches.  It seems a great
likelihood to her really.  Sitting back in the chair, Melody rested
her head on the side and looked out the window.  Her head felt much
better.  Seems no real harm done.  "How is it that Pip and Grey knew
precisely what to do to make me feel better," she commented.  "I like
staying here."  Melody took a deep breath and smiled contently.


Melody

Parts of this TBAY were written with quotes from the TBAYs of Frankie
and Meg numbers 45660 and 45790.