Why not floo .. to London? Belief vs Reality

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 91660

--- 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 ?
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Yeah, yeah, I know, it was a plot device to ensure Neville, Luna and 
> Ginny got there too for reasons we will no doubt discover, but
> clunky or what..
> 
> Carolyn, grumpily.


bboy_mn:

Hope I didn't miss this in the thread, I've read it over several days,
so all posts aren't fresh in my mind.

The most obvious answer to the question, is that you can't Floo in and
out of Hogwarts. Hermione is constantly reminding us that Hogwarts is
protected against entry by magical stealth means. Apparation is most
often mentioned, but I think we can all assume that the protections
apply to most magical methods of transportation.

Although, it's possible Hermione/JKR constantly mentioning this is an
authoral distraction or misdirection. It really doesn't matter if you
can Floo in and out of the castle, because I'm sure Harry believes, as
JKR has tried to make us believe, that you can't Floo in and out.

Now the exceptions-

We have seen that you can Floo/fire travel with in the castle; Snape
calls Lupin to his office using the fire, and once called, Lupin
arrives in Snape's office by fire. But travel within the castle would
not be much of a security risk. So, that acception seems reasonable.

In the latest book (OotP), we see Dumbledore use both Floo and Portkey
to enter the castle, as well at exit by Phoenix. What's up with that? 

First we must remember that Dumbledore controls the magical
protections around the castle, it's not unreasonable that he could
have programmed exceptions for himself. It's also reasonably possible
that being in control of the protections, allows him to open and close
them at will. 

The other exception was the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in
GoF, I take the same position here; Dumbledore controls the
protections and he controls the exceptions. If he was familiar with
the other school, he would logically know their method of travel and
time of arrival, and would have made appropriate allowances.

Harry's portkey/Tri-Wizard's Cup travel to the Little Hangleton
graveyard is far more difficult to determine. A favored and simple
solution theory is that the Tri-Wizard's cup was always a Portkey that
took the champion who touch it first out of the maze. So, once again,
that would have allowed Dumbledore to create an exception or lower the
protections to allow the Portkey to function during the third task. 


The conclusion-

So, my position is that Harry and the gang didn't run back to the
castle to Floo because they didn't believe Floo travel was possible.
Regardless of whether or not it is possible, I think it's fair to say
the believed it was not.

Also, going back to the school opened the potential for running into a
very angry Inquisitorial Squad and many adults who would surely thwart
their plans, or at least create delays. So, they were all together in
the forest, they had a means of transportation, they had no adults to
interfer (adults can be so interferring to even the best of a child's
plans), consequently, they seized the resources they had and went with
them.

Remember, it's not so much whether you CAN Floo in and out of
Hogwarts, as it is whether Harry and Hermione BELIEVE you can Floo in
and out of Hogwarts. Based on Hermione's constant reminders, it
reasonable to think they believe they can not.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn