Jo's site and Snape's timeline in OOTP

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 119711


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Meliss9900 at a... 
wrote:

> I really seem to remember Dumbledore (or maybe it was 
another order member)  saying that the order had more efficient 
methods of communication than Flue > powder ect.  So would 
would slower really be more efficient?  I can see this  silver thing 
as being more reliable (as in less likely to be intercepted) but not 
 not as good in emergency situations.
> 


Pippin:
Dumbledore says the Order's methods of communication are 
"more reliable" than the fire in Dolores Umbridges office. He 
doesn't say they are more efficient. They probably aren't or they'd 
be in wider use. Snape didn't dare use any means that could be 
overheard by ministry spies, not if he was reporting that Harry 
was going to try to break into the Ministry.

The time lag could also explain why Snape didn't try to contact 
Dumbledore directly even if he had "grown worried" as soon as 
he discovered Harry had not come back from the forest.    Unlike 
the messenger spell, Dumbledore can travel instantly from place 
to place. If Snape knew when Dumbledore was expected at GP, 
and that until then Dumbledore was going to be further away 
from Hogwarts than GP, sending a message to GP was the 
most efficient way to reach him. 

We also don't know whether the messenger spell can find a 
recipient who is moving, or  whose whereabouts are unknown.

Of course they'd have been better off using a fellytone, but I'd 
guess this is just another one of Rowling's warnings against 
prejudice. Everything magical does *not* have to be better than 
everything Muggle. 

Pippin