W6 - a low-grade essay about weapons of wizard war

[kizor0]

No: HPFGUIDX 118583


This is a pretty short thing. I have intentions of expanding and
refining it later. I'll post the later versions here, unless enough
people tell me not to. Got your own suggestions or ideas? Please tell
them.

Wondrous and Wicked Ways of Waging Wizarding War

Making up and fleshing out fictional worlds has long been a favourite
activity of mine. As I also happen to be a twisted *******, I've
lately been giving what we might get to see in the struggle against
Voldemort a lot of thought. Thus, I present to you a short speculative
essay about possible ways to utilise magic in war for no good reason
whatsoever. Seriously. I have at least three ongoing assignments that
could have used the time, what's wrong with me?

Someone who has actual knowledge of military matters instead of the
general background kind that aspiring polymathy brings would
undoubtedly get a lot more out of this issue. But he or she is not
writing this.

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The Premise

It's quite clear that the war will not be a military campaign in the
Muggle sense of the word. Even if the wizarding world was unconcerned
with revealing itself, it'd still lack the required numbers. The Order
of the Phoenix was operating with less than twenty-five people during
the first war. Guerrilla war and small precision strikes will be the
order of the day, then, instead of a `grab a rifle and go get shot'
grinder. The preciousness of manpower and the planned nature of
conflicts means that in most engagements, at least one side will have
had the chance to pre-prepare and arm itself with whatever aides are
at hand. And there will be aides at hand; while a wizard only needs
his wand to become an effective fighter, the potential in the myriad
kinds of enchanted items is obvious.

In addition to casting spells for temporary effects, wizards and
witches are capable of imbuing objects with magical capabilities. As
JKR appears to be deliberately avoiding technical details on magic,
there are too many variables to estimate the extent of the
possibilities. These include the skills and time required, the
difficulty of the act and the time the enhancements would hold.
Nevertheless, the setting is crowded with magical items, so they don't
appear too hard to make and anyone trying to create new things would
have ample materials available. It's quite possible that the WW, less
acquainted with war, will not recognize some of the available
potential – though on the other hand, the previous war taught it some
hard lessons.

The strongest point about the non-existence of aides is the battle in
the Department of Mysteries, a genuine magical battle that only used
wands. My feeble defence is that two of the three groups involved
scrambled immediately, as in every second counts, while the Death
Eaters were going against a group of young teenagers with the
advantage of surprise and two-on-one numbers. Why should they have
armed themselves for definite overkill? In addition, many of the
possible items are not immediately obvious.

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Some Possibilities

Drones
A personal favourite of mine and a fancy name for what are essentially
enchanted lumps of rock, wood etc., drones are small spheres of any
suitable material capable of homing and of maintaining and steering
flight. Fred and George have used these on several occasions, such as
when they made some snowballs rap on the windows of Gryffindor Tower,
so the concept seems feasible and not too hard to put into action. A
flying ball is not very useful on its own, but with additional
enhancements (which is possible, as Quidditch balls kindly
demonstrate) drones can quickly become tools that only wands outdo in
versatility. I'll go through some of the concepts that have occurred
to me.
- Offensive drones: While drones cannot have spell-casting abilities
on their own, a bit of improvisational nastiness can supply a number
of other possible attacks. Take gobstones – how about filling the
stones with a severely caustic substance and setting them to spew it
on the opponent's faces? A more straightforward way would be making
what basically is a rogue Bludger (or indeed turning a regular one
into one), a large, hard ball that continuously homes in on one person
at high speeds. Offensive drones might not be as effective as
wand-use, but even if heavy specialization can't fix that their
autonomous nature would present the target with several attackers at
once – drones just need to be effective enough to force anyone on the
wrong end to divide their attention.
- Defensive drones: While no magical means can stop an Avada Kedavra,
the spell has been absorbed by another object on a number of
occasions. Drones that stay close to the user and throw themselves to
the path of incoming curses could be a tremendous asset. In addition,
drones orbiting the user like Magneto's from the second X-Men movie
would just look too darn cool.
- Intel drones: Stick a piece of the kind of mirror-glass Sirius used
on a drone, or install sensor-equivalents and a transmitter using
whatever the Wizarding Radio Network does, and voila! You have a scout
or a sentinel. Scouts would have to be used carefully to avoid giving
away one's position, but the ability to recon suspected ambushes and
the like without exposing anyone to danger can be very valuable. 

The Uses of Near-Instantaneous Travel
Apparating for short distances and Portkeys for long ones allow travel
with neglible delay. Presumably it's still a second or few, making the
methods unusable in battle (otherwise, I for one would not have barged
to the Death Room through a door but Apparated two feet above Lucius
Malfoy's head with steel boots) with the possible exception of
fleeing. Portkeys do present an intriguing possibility; Key rings.
Give Order operatives a set of a few Portkeys to Grimmauld Place and
other strategic locations. When contacted (the Order members are very
likely to have instantaneous communication, at least on a summoning
level – Hermione Granger was able to emulate the Dark Mark on her
fifth year, NEWT level or no) all available Order members could reach
into a pocket, unwrap the appropriate Key and arrive on the scene
within seconds. Patrols, sentries and spies could also find Key rings
a lifesaver – doubly so if one would lead to St. Mungo. The fact
against this is the low number of Order members present at the
Department of Mysteries. No Snape, no Weasleys. In addition, the Key
rings would have to be safeguarded against capture very throughoutly
indeed. An Imperio on an owner would be bad, too.

There are means of preventing the use of these methods, as
Dumbledore's Anti-Disapparation Jinx in OOTP and Hogwarts' protections
show. I imagine the Order and the Ministry will be using them a lot.
No doubt the Death Eaters will, if possible, devise a system with
about the same effects as the one in this Schlock Mercenary strip:

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20020220.html

Please ignore the eye-trees and the amorphs, it'll be much easier for
us both.

The presence of loopholes bears watching, as it could undermine even
the strongest of defenses. How about portable fireplaces for Floo
travel, shrunken with appropriate magic and carried in a solid metal
container to prevent unauthorized exits? Oh, and I would like to
heartily thank the person who previously suggested a Knight Bus filled
with Phoenix-wielding House Elves. You rule.

Command Centers
The wizarding world has the means to make a center of operations at
least as advanced as the Muggle world. As the Weasley's wonderful
watches show, items can be made to show a faraway person's status
without delay. Sirius' mirror demonstrates that communication between
distant persons is possible – perhaps hearing crystals small enough to
insert into an ear? We don't know how hard it was to make the
Marauder's Map and how much did the makers have to know about
Hogwarts, but having a Phoenix's Parchment of at least some important
locations sounds likely. Ask Harry for the Map for the war effort
(could he refuse?) and use an Engorgement Charm on it, and you already
have one of Hogwarts. 

Imagine a room in Grimmauld Place decorated with pictures of Order
members. A large parchment covers much of one wall, and small dots of
red and green dash around on it. Mirrors show pictures of rooms filled
with the fires of battle. Moody and Lupin sit behind desks, shouting
into what vaguely resemble speaking tubes. The frames of several
pictures are glowing red, and spell names flash on them. First one,
and then another dims, and then `AVADA KEDAVRA' appears on one in
fiery letters. The portrait catches fire. I know the small numbers
make large-scale battles very rare, but the example works. You can add
a shrunken Kreacher head to the ceiling if you like.

Contact Lenses
How small and precise can magic be? Presumably nanotech is out, but
adding some enhancements to a contact lens or making a very thin,
transparent film to wrap itself over an eyeball (yuk!) might be in the
realms of possibility. The lens or equivalent could bestow sight
enhancements or show data. Possible uses include projecting things
such as an overhead map of the area on the lens. Furthermore, if the
principles behind Weasley's other watch, the one that shows things
like "You're late" without any apparent knowledge what the person in
question is late for, are flexible enough – these could show status
reports, such as "You're in danger of being detected" or "duck!"
Lenses could help in communication with a command center, as described
above, and perhaps transmit what they see to the center.

If contact lenses are too small, well, that brings a rather unpleasant
mental image of Order members tearing one of their own eyes out and
replacing them with their own versions of Moody's. Having a
freaky-looking face beats being a good-looking corpse. With wizard
medicine, it's very likely that the eyes could be preserved and rather
replaced anyhow.

Space-warping
As cauldrons, cars and tents show, an object's size is no indication
of the volume of space it holds. This removes much of the restrictions
the size and weight of wargear places, and offers the chance of
high-risk infiltration missions – if the effects are strong enough,
one person can carry many in concealment.

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Other Notes

Why no Muggle weaponry?
The ignorance about Muggle firearms and demolitions seems to be almost
complete. Although the incredible versatility of a wand has them beat,
they do have things that wizard weaponry doesn't; great fire rates and
area effect, for instance. Wizards may have some kind of spell that
makes Muggle projectile weapons infeasible, but even so it seems that
a few flashbangs (concussion grenades; temporarily blind and deafen
the enemy while causing no permanent damage) in the DoM would have
been a great asset. Perhaps the knowledge of the Muggle weaponry's
potential has not gotten to the leaders, as few of the senior fighters
are likely to have any sort of expertise on the issue. The DE's racist
policies are seemingly against this, but Voldemort's hypocricy would
undoubtedly find a way around. The users would just have to be trained
enough to operate the devices for one engagement, with one or two able
people in charge of maintenance.

Then again, the ignorance about Muggle things could be a blessing,
otherwise we might end up with a government installation that until
recently housed a nuclear warhead and is currently housing a lot of
dead people who appear unharmed in any way, and a great big hole in
Scotland.

Operation: Human Shield
How's this for vile? The Death Eaters attack a disco, school or other
suitable establishment and Imperio the large amounts of children or
adolescents there, then pass out AK-47s. Even if Aurors and the Order
can hex themselves to be impervious to bullets, a properly timed
attack with a group like this would at the very least be a great drain
on time and resources. The best part is that the Ministry would be
forced to cover the event up! Just leave them something to build a
plausible scenario on – say, order a few of the youths to remain in
the building and blow the place up.