Why not floo instead of thestral to London?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 91647

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt" 
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:

a_reader2003:
> > 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 ?

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

Geoff:
Two points.
(1) The thestral business arose after Harry and Hermione lured DJU 
into the Forest and this occurred after she yanked Harry out of the 
fire when he was communicating with Grimmauld Place. Just prior to 
this....

"Harry dashed over to the fireplace, seized the pot of Floo powder 
and threw a pinch into the grate, causing emerald flames to burst 
into life there." (OOTP "Out of the Fire" p.652 UK edition)

So the answer to the question is "Yes".

(2) Referring to Iggy's reply to this at 91623, looking at the scene 
in COS where Harry Floos out of the Burrow and ends up at Borgin and 
Burkes, we read...

"He closed his eyes again wishing it would stop and then - he fell, 
face forward onto cold stone and felt his glasses shatter.

Dizzy and bruised, covered in soot, he got gingerly to his feet, 
holding his broken glasses up to his eyes. He was quite alone but 
where he was, he had no idea. All he could tell was that he was 
standing in the stone fireplace of what looked like a large dimly lit 
wizard's shop...."

(COS "At Flourish and Blotts" p.42, UK edition)

Note he is standing "in" the fireplace. If the fire was lit, by now 
he would be wearing hot pants........

Referring back to the matter of Umbridge's grate earlier in my reply, 
note that when Harry threw the powder into the grate, emerald 
flames /burst/ into life. In the scene in the Burrow in COS, adding 
the powder causes the flames to /turn/ emerald green, a slightly 
different scenario.

It was also a warm summer day; we are told that the kittens on the 
plates were basking in the sunshine. Would the dear lady have a fire?