TBAY: extra canon for safe house/MAGIC DISHWASHER and elf rights revisited

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 46535

Melody was in her room in the safe house, nursing a splitting headache 
after her unfortunate encounter with a grumpy old tree in a road  of 
TBAY. Although the previous day she had been able to get up and even 
walk around a bit, this particular morning she wasn't feeling as well. 
Deciding that she could use a little pampering, she rang the bell Pip 
had left beside her bed to call for Sneaky.

"Sneaky, be a dear and bring me the breakfast to the bed today", she 
told the elf almost inmediately, since -as always- Sneaky had arrived 
within seconds of the call "I'm going to take it easy, no gain in 
rushing into anything today, my head feels a bit worse for the wear"

"Yes, Ma'am. Right now, Ma'am. Don't you go hurt yourself" said Sneaky 
before leaving as noiselessly as she had arrived.

Ten minutes later, Melody was wondering what could've happened to 
Sneaky: she normally didn't take this long, but a heavy creaking coming 
from the corridor informed her that someone *heavier* than Sneaky was 
coming, and a delicius smell from that general direction told her that 
her breakfast was involved in it somehow. She wondered who could be 
that heavy: since the safe house had been designed with people like 
Grey Wolf in mind, heavy creaking wasn't normal, especially since 
trolls normally don't make good spies.

A polite knock in the door after, Melody gave her permission to enter, 
and on the other side of the door was the Grey Wolf in his werewolf 
form, carrying a tray overload with steaming plates and a 
suspicious-looking bottle on his left hand and with two heavy-looking 
cannons on his other. The whole thing must have weight a few pounds 
short of 500. Little wonder the floor had been complaining under the 
weight!

"Hi, Mel" said Grey Wolf while carefully crossing the door trying not 
to scrape the sides with the canons while keeping the tray from 
spilling, "I catched Sneaky just before she left with your breakfast, 
and since I was coming to see you anyway I decided I might as well help 
Sneaky out. Not seing you this morning, I thought you might want a few 
things that might cheer you up"

"Thanks, Grey, you're a dear. I am definetely not feeling very well 
this morning, to tell the truth. I could really use a little cheering 
up" She told the grey lumbering form while he carefully deposited the 
canons on the flor and arranged the breakfast, unfolding the legs of 
the tray so Melody could eat confortably off it.

"First thing first, Mel, Meg sent a packet with this medicine for 
headaches", said Grey Wolf pointing at the colorful bottle, "and 
explicit instructions on how to use it. I've left the note under it. 
The first dosis, if you want to try it out (and I would recomend it, 
Meg knows quite a bit 'bout medicine) is just after breakfast."

"Thanks, I think I'll try it. Now, will you please get to the point and 
tell me were you've found those cannons? I am besides myself with 
interest, and evading the issue like that is cruel!"

"Sorry, Mel, but your health is a priority, and when I start to think 
on a theory, I tend to loose track of the time. Now, if you'll allow me 
to get confortable" said Grey Wolf while sitting cross-legged on the 
floor, so his head was about as high as Mel's, "let me start. The first 
canon (the Black one) really belongs to the safe house: it's a little 
tidbit I haven't seen examined closely before; the second I'll probably 
keep it in my room, it's relevant to an old theory of mine -previous to 
your time, and even to the safe house, IIRC- and I always feel that old 
theories should be resurrected after some time, so they can get a good 
dusting. Anyway, starting with the first canon:

  As you know, the safe house and our particular variant, MAGIC 
DISHWASHER, are built on the fact that both sides use spies in the 
information/terrorist war that's going on between the MoM, Deatheaters 
and the Old Gang. Now, while reviewing the canons down at the armory 
the other day, I found this little jewel that packs quite a punch:

  (GoF, ch 14, Sp. Ed, Sirius letter, liberally translated)
  "Harry:
      I leave right now for the North. The news that your scar has been 
hurting has added to a series of strange rumours that have reached me 
here. If it hurst again, go directly to Dumbledore. I have been told 
that he has taken Mad-Eye from his retirement, which means that at 
least he is aware of the clues, even if he's the only one"

  Now, the last part is clearly confirmation of safe house foundations, 
but that's not what I'm most interested in. The letter itself is 
deliberately vague, since Sirius fears it might be intercepted. He 
mentions that he "has been told that Dumbledore...". I truth, it was 
probably Dumbledore himself who told him - we learn that he's been in 
contact with him since PoA at the end of GoF, but probably fears that 
Dumbledore's position might be compromised if it's discovered that he 
has been exchanging letters with a known murderer who has escaped from 
Azkaban. 

However, even more intriguing is that very first comment: " a series of  
of strange rumours that have reached me here". We know that Sirius is 
in some tropical paradise, with huge multicoloured birds. What kind of 
rumour would arrive there? Voldemort was probably a world problem 13 
years ago, but he has been lying low for quite a while, and he never 
attacked anything outside Europe, so it's not as if all sort of 
believable wild rumours would be floating about him. Besides, we know 
that Voldemort had not been doing anything out of the ordinary anyway: 
he had been bidding his time. The only thing that might have reached 
Sirius directly would've been the disturbances at the World Cup, but I 
don't think that would be all of it. Of course, DEs attacking muggles 
and fleeing the Mark would be strange in itself, but I cannot imagine 
that to be all, since if that didn't send him running for Harry at the 
time, a good month or two later the news would be stale.

  So what are those rumours, then? This is where it gets interesting: 
Sirius cannot be passively gathering the info: any rumour that reaches 
him by ear-to-mouth is going to be blown out of all proportion almost 
for sure, since he's in a country were the UK WW authorities cannot 
reach him, mush less a coherent account of what might be going on 
there. So, how did he get hold of rumours that -strange or not- are 
believable enough to pile with Harry's scar and send him running into 
the most dangerous place he can go to? Unfortunately, we don't get to 
know, but that's not where I'm aiming.

  I'm proposing that, in fact, Sirius has been *actively gathering* 
information since he hurriedly left the country. I have this urge to 
picture him as the big guy that rattles WW informers and gets the 
moving once again. At the very least, he seems to have stablished a 
chain of informers that are able to reach him even in his hiding place 
and bring him info that he can trust enough to act upon (notice that 
the letter implies that Harry's scar pain wouldn't have been enough to 
put him into motion; he probably would've just informed Dumbledore, who 
is, after all, closer to hand).

  As you know, MAGIC DISHWASHER doesn't try to outguess JKR except by 
difidently proposing extrapolations that are in no way intended to take 
as articles of faith. Thus, I am adding one more: that Sirius may very 
well be in charge of part of the information gathering of Dumbledore 
now that he is outside Azkaban. He could very well use both his fame 
for being a Voldemort follower AND a known brutal and merciless asassin  
to make speak people who would normally wouldn't *think* of 
double-crossing Voldemort or any of his Deatheaters. As I see it, those 
close-mouthed come in two variants: the ones that are scared of what 
the DEs might do to them (which would be scared of what *Sirius the DE 
Asassin* might do to them), and those who picture themselves as part of 
the organization (sympathizers of the DE ideals that might not know 
that Sirius is not one of them). The basic theory of terrorist 
organizations believes that those are two most common types of people 
with inside information of a secret organization: the scared into 
submission and the sympathizer, and both are reachable by Sirius at 
this point.

  Note that I'm making no move on his position *before* the fateful 
night, but a chief of spies is never above suspicion of spying himself, 
so it's not off the mark why even Dumbledore was ready to speak against 
him. However, at that point, Sirius wasn't anywhere as effective as 
information gatherer as he could be now, as I've said."

Grey Wolf gradually reached to a stop, after his long explanation. 
Mel's tray had long been finished, and she had even taken the medicine. 
Her headache was improving, in fact thanks to the medicine -she mused- 
but also because she was getting intrigued by the theory, and she had 
forgotten about the pain.

"I'm sorry It has been so long. I'm probably boring you to death, and I 
should leave you to rest. I can always explain you my second canon when 
you're feeling better"

"Nonesense and other coments, Grey!", answered Mel "I'm feeling 
perfectly all right, and your theories help me to take my mind away 
from the pain. Please, do continue. Besides, I don't mind company, 
whatever the reason for being here"

"OK, if you insist. The second canon is, as I've said, relevant to the 
Elf rights discussion this list had a while back. I was known to be an 
active participant, but strangely enough, no acronym stuck the way it 
has happened in safe house-related discussions (except ENSLAVEMENT, 
which was a pretty shacky argument to start with). In fact, the 
discussion got to the point where me and my contender, Ama, bored 
everyone to death and moved into private ground. At any rate, my four 
basic theories can be found at #39292, and I'm sure you can find a copy 
at the house's library.  My view have been refined since them, so I'm 
willing to give anyone a run for his money if they pick up the 
gauntelet and try to counter my arguments (as shocking as it may sound, 
I am *against* Hermione's campaign of elf liberation, but I'm not going 
to express my arguments here since I'm keeping you up long enough).

At any rate, one of the basic problems is that many people seem to be 
against Hermione's SPEW, including Hagrid, Percy and the elves 
themselves. Now, Percy and Hagrid have, in the past, been brushed off 
as "ignorant" (Hagrid) and "close-sighted" (Percy). The elves 
themselves have been said to be "brainwashed". And then, they bring out 
the single other person that has expresed some sort of pro-elf rights 
ideas: Arthur Weasley, who said he "agreed with Hermione". Now, before 
I ramble off some tangent, let me say that the cannon I have found is a 
fourth participant, with extensive knowledge of the world, who also 
oposes Hermione's ideas: Nearly Headless Nick, who in GoF's sorting 
ceremony informs Hermione of the fact that Hogwarts uses the services 
of house elves, and then informs her that the elves don't want holidays 
or pensions. My memory might be a little loose after all this time, but 
I don't remember anyone bringing him out into the discussion.

Now, I'm sure someone in TBAY or outside will be able to find something 
wrong with Nick's ideas, so I think I'm going to cut it short here, 
Mel, and I'll go and store this elf cannon in my theory room. After, 
I'll supose I'll wait for anyone who'd like to face me in an enjoyable 
contest of wills over that matter (or any other, really). I know I 
haven't been able to go out into the Bay lately, but I think I'll try 
and find the time this time, just in case. Oh, and if *you* feel like 
disagreeing with my PoV of elf's rights, I'll be around. Don't let the 
fact that we're both tenants of the safe house stop you from 
disagreeing with me over some matter."

With those words, Grey Wolf got up, gingerly picked up the second 
cannon and strided out of the room, being careful not to rip the door 
when closing it. Mel layed in the bed for wuite a while, pondering what 
she had just heard...

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf, who has found free time this afternoon and has decided to 
use it up presenting two theories that have been developing at the back 
of his mind for some time instead of attending to his e-mail backlist, 
as he should have.