Severus looked mildly amused. "It is not uncommon for Ravenclaws to come from Slytherin families." He waved a hand. "But as interesting as this discussion is, it is not the point of your visit."
"Ah but it seems simple to you because you are aware of the location of Upper Slaughter," he said archly. "Would you be so willing to stand outside the perimeter of Upper Slaughter if you couldn't see it and those within it? For someone like Boot, he could stand outside the perimeter with someone inside the Fidelius facing him and he would never see them... even as they killed him." He arched an eyebrow. "It is also unusual for such a large area to be protected under the Fidelius. That would have taken a substantial effort from Rodolphus. I could probably do the same thing but the number of other people with the power to do so is limited. Most Fidelius charms only protect a single house."
He shook his head. "Rodolphus can detect disturbances in the wards surrounding the town. I doubt he is directly linked to them but he does know when they are disturbed. If you try that you might as well go and knock on Rodolphus' door. He'd have half the town on top of you before you could move. I've seen it in the past."
He considered the matter for a moment. "The easy solution would be to simply walk around the perimeter and pass back and forth to allow a flyer to see you and mark positions but I suspect the wards would react to that. I would prefer to err on the side of caution." He arched an eyebrow. "Charmed objects are probably the best. The wards do detect such things but Rodolphus rarely pays attention to them given what Death Eaters are prone to carrying around. I tested this a few times early on and he never questioned me."
He shuffled the essays out of the way and pulled a piece of parchment towards himself, jotting down a few notes in a quick scrawl. "Keep the four points. Small charmed objects that can be detected by a flyer. I can easily apparate into my house and make my way around the town. Yourself, Boot or Pucey in the air to mark the points. We could get that done in thirty minutes to an hour depending on circumstances."
He listened to Stephen's explanation and studied the parchment. "One pass would be all you would get and a night raid would be the best option. I can guarantee that the Killing Curse will be used so expect deaths, especially if some of the Death Eaters manage to get in the air." He gave Stephen a long look. "Also if you do this, Rodolphus will take the gloves all the way off. He has been largely keeping Bellatrix and Greyback in check. For what reason, I don't know but if you do this, the first thing you can expect is that he will let the harridan and the wolf loose. A question I would pose to you is this... will the potential losses among the Death Eaters be worth the atrocities that will follow? And knowing Greyback and Bellatrix as I do, atrocity will be a mild term for what they can do."
He held up one hand to forestall any immediate response. "I do not say this to dissuade you. Personally I believe it will be worth it but I will not be the public face of this. It will be you, Pucey, Boot and whomever else you rope in. And the public face of this will wear the recriminations and accusations of any countermoves from Rodolphus, they will face the crying and wailing mothers, wives, husbands and children. Perhaps you, with your Ravenclaw sensibilities can rationalise this and dismiss it as irrelevant, but will Boot be able to view it with such equanimity? Will others? Weasley is as close to a Ravenclaw as a Gryffindor can get but he is also a political animal at heart. Are you sure he will be willing to risk destroying any future ambitions he has to be Minister by placing himself as being responsible for an attack that led to the worst slaughter of innocents the war has ever seen?" He shrugged. "Personally I would say go ahead with it but I do not care to be more than what I am and I have enough blood on my hands that a little more will make no difference."
He waited for Stephen's response. He expected him to dismiss his questions. Stephen was really too much the Ravenclaw, too wrapped up in his theory to truly see the consequences this could have.