Why not floo instead of thestral to London?

[a_reader2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 91632

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_reader2003" 
<carolynwhite2 at a...> wrote:
Is anyone else as irritated as me that Harry and Hermione didn't just
floo out of Umbridge's office straight to Grimmauld Place, instead of
wasting all that time being caught and riding thestrals to disaster
in the MoM ?	


John the Walker wrote:
It seems highly unlikely that, given the protections on 12 Grimmauld
Place, that you would be able to Floo in, especially when not
expected. I think that the fireplace can only be used as a
communication tool, rather than a travelling one. I wouldn't be
surprised if the Hogwarts fireplaces operated the same way. (snip)

Kathryn Cawte wrote:

Plus the Floo network is Ministry controlled isn't it? A few Floo 
calls they might be able to get away with but if people started 
travelling too and from the supposedly empty family residence of an 
escaped convit I think even the Ministry 'brains' might smell a rat. 
So even apart from the usual security reasons I assume Floo access to 
and from Grimmauld Place would have been made impossible by 
Dumbledore.	

Kneasy:
A small but important point: Did hhe have any Floo powder?

Carolyn again:

Chapter 32 'Out of the fire': "Harry dashed over to the fireplace, 
seized the pot of Floo powder and threw a pinch in the grate, causing 
emerald flames to burst into life there. He knelt down quickly, 
thrust his head into the dancing fire and cried 'Number twelve, 
Grimmauld Place!' "

So, yes, he had Floo powder, and it sounds the standard stuff, the 
description of its use is exactly as we have seen when he's used it 
both to travel with the Weasley's, and previously when he just stuck 
his head in the fire to contact Sirius and Lupin via Umbridge's 
fireplace.

To answer John and Kathryn's points, yes, I am sure there are a lot 
of protections in place, and no one but a secret keeper could have 
used the Floo network to get from the office to Grimmauld place - 
Umbridge could not have done it, and because of the nature of the 
Fidelius charm, no one on the Floo network would be able to detect 
the Grimmauld place end of the connection. It is noticeable that when 
Umbridge detected Sirius using the Floo network, it was only at the 
Gryffindor tower end, she didn't know where he was speaking from, and 
couldn't trace the 'call'.

And I wasn't suggesting that he should do it regularly. My point was 
that he was in a flat panic, ready to do anything to save Sirius and 
had been flapping hysterically about how to get to London for the 
past couple of hours. What could be more obvious than at least trying 
to step through the fire to the kitchen of Grimmauld place. Even if 
he didn't bother to yell up the stairs for Sirius when he got there, 
but rushed straight off to the tube station, from his POV it would 
surely have seemed the fastest way to get to the MoM ? 

Carolyn, still irritated.