Why FLY when you can FLOO to Grimmauld Place? (was Re: Possible Flint: Fireplace

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 83447

bboy_mn wrote:

> Common area/public area
> fireplaces are probably open from both direction, BUT ONLY open for
> talking.
> 
> Let's us remember that even Fire Talking still travels through the
> Floo Network, and that would mean the administrators of the Floo
> Network would have the ability to monitor and trace conversations.

Well, this may solve a question that has bothered me ever since 
reading OoP. Instead of Harry just popping his head into the fire at 
the end of OoP to check if Sirius is there, why not just step all the 
way through? 

After all, Harry's aim is to get to London- Grimmauld Place is *in* 
London. Getting from Grimmauld Place to The Ministry of Magic would 
be far less complicated than getting from Hogwarts to London. 
Especially seeing as then there would be no risk of getting caught in 
Umbridge's office- that is, Harry could just step straight through, 
Hermione could leave and Umbridge would appear and find no-one by the 
fire-place at all. Then, we could have avoided the whole issue with 
the "Weapon," the Centaurs, Grawp and the Thestrals. (Not to mention, 
Harry would have seen Sirius in the house and never gone to the 
Department of Mysteries in the first place).

What's more, after Umbridge is carried away by the Centaurs, why not 
just return to her office to use the fire? It'd be quicker than 
Thestrals. I'd bet they could just say "Minstry of Magic" as they 
walked through the fireplace and only have to take the lift.

However, if the fires can't be used for actually travelling, then all 
these holes are filled in. The only problem is, why hasn't JKR told 
us that? Without this vital piece of information it just makes 
Harry's choices through-out the end of the book look completely 
foolish and random. 

But if fireplaces *can* be used for travelling then JKR has left us 
with a lot of simple solutions that would have solved Harrys' crises 
in the blink of an eye:
    If only he'd stepped all the way through the fire place, none of 
this would have ever happened. 
    If only they'd said 'Hey let's go back to Umbridge's completely 
unguarded office.' 

The point of everything after Harry's vision is to delay their 
departure. It was all a plot device to make sure that they reached 
the Department of Mysteries after work hours had finished and the 
whole place was completely deserted. But why not just delay Harry's 
vision until later? Why not just have it later on that night in the 
Gryffindor common room? Then they can still do their little 
diversionary tactics, but actually go all the way throught he fire 
place.

We already knew the Centaurs were waging war, do we need to see it 
again? We already knew Grawp was in the forest, do we need to see 
that again? The Thestrals are abandoned as soon as they have 
fulfilled their use, does it matter if the DA arrive by fireplace or 
air? What part do the others actually play in the battle? I mean, 
Harry would have never seen his name on the prophecy if it was't for 
Ron! He would've just walked out and started looking for Sirius 
elsewhere.

If JKR does allow floo travel in Hogwart's fireplaces, then she has a 
lot of questions to answer.
If she doesn't allow such transportation, then why doesn't she tell 
us, and put my mind at ease...!

~<(Laurasia)>~