Regulation and Control

( From the front page of the Daily Prophet )

Who: Christopher Warrington & Malcolm Baddock
What: A meeting during which Chris tries very, very hard not to freak out
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - midday, shortly after Malcolm's note to the Regulators and Chris' reply.
Where: Scamander Park
Rating: PG? PG-13ish?
Status: Closed, incomplete.



Chris had watched Smith's scrawl as it raced across the page, the final word half-formed, half-finished, and then it had gone dark, gone black, blank - the only connection he had to his family blinked out of existence. He waited. He kept himself calm. He told himself to breathe.

By noon he couldn't take the silence anymore. Chris wasn't thinking in terms of theory or legal consequences, he couldn't think at all. His sister, his niece - they were stuck inside that bloody wall and something had happened that cut off communication. No one from inside was posting anything at all, they weren't writing, and he had promised.

Walking into Scamander Park, he tracked Baddock down, then waited until they were alone - it was a singularly lucky moment. The other man had been swamped, he knew, organising everything. "Now," he said, voice tense, expression strained. He tried to convey a sense of calm, but he knew his mask wasn't quite so flawless as it typically was. "Tell me what we know now. Any change? Anything at all. Did we do something while trying to get the wall down that cut off communication? Because the journals went dead. Smith's stopped mid-sentence. They've lost their magic. I think - that's what he was saying, writing. Baddock, tell me what we know." I promised.

Who: Lo Desmarais and Charlie Weasley and OPEN
What: When a friend of a friend is a vampire who might just be your only way to get information from inside the wall, you put any reservations and prejudices aside.
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Following Charlie's journal entry.
Where: Base camp
Rating: TBD
Status: Closed, incomplete.

Lo was running from her camp at the west edge of the wall to where the Regulators had settled. Running, not as humans ran, but with speed that could only be defined as supernatural. She was as fast as a car, with reflexes that allowed her to dodge objects at a millisecond's notice. When Lo had told Charlie she would meet him in two minutes, she was being serious - in fact, it took her a little less than that.

"Who's Charlie?" She asked once she came to a halt, calling out at the base's perimeter, unable to go any further thanks to the wards that had been put up. There were a few people milling around, but none of them were paying her any attention. "Someone - find me Charlie Weasley." But no, no one moved. The idiots.

Who: Astoria Greengrass, Zacharias Smith and OPEN
Where: the wall, wizarding London
When: April 9, late afternoon
What: Astoria and Zach decide to try and take proactive measures about the wall.
Rating: TBD, probably at least R, could go high for violence, etc. -- Almost certainly will.
Status: OPEN; in progress.

"Not a wall, it's a fucking dome," Zach said as his eyes scanned the clear surface, watching as the sun throbbed off it. Glistening like wet glass, it seemed to stretch on for forever and the artist bit his lip as he took another, hesitant step closer. It had unnerved him more than he wanted to admit to leave Clare, Andrea and Jac under someone else's watch but after watching the way that the other wizards were clustering in the India House, he'd come to understand that- without Fred, at least - nothing was going to be accomplished simply waiting. And, with the stores as they were, they didn't have that time.

He'd gone in privately and estimated they had food to last a day. Maybe two. There were fewer and fewer animals near the perimeter.

People die of thirst in the Arctic. The thought disturbed him as he looked at the dirty snow, wondering how long before water, too, became an issue. His feet scuffed the pavement as he thought to himself that they might as well have been in the Pole, as isolated as they had become. He watched Astoria for a moment, before saying, "Looks like glass. Wonder if anyone's tried heat, than ice. Course, we don't have any fucking ice but cold. Something cold. Works on glass. That's how you break it without shattering."

Who: Lo Desmarais and Malcolm Baddock
What: Yes, Malcolm, it’s your only option. Deal.
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2008. After meeting with Charlie outside the wall.
Where: Scamander Park
Rating: TBD
Status: Closed, incomplete.

Wizarding government. This was certainly interesting, and definitely something new for Lo. If she had the luxury of taking the time to process things, she would have even been impressed. As it was, she was running. That speed and endurance that she had exhibited to Charlie only minutes ago showed no signs of stopping as she ran through the grounds surrounding the Regulator’s building, and it was literally at the drop of a hat that she stopped at the front entrance before crashing into it as such speed that the force from her body would have probably knocked the door down. But that was what one called a bad first impression.

It actually took her by surprised when she couldn’t hear the click of heels on the floor as she walked, but Lo remembered that, actually, she was wearing tennis shoes that day. For practicality purposes. There didn’t seem to be a front desk of sorts, but she stopped the first person she saw in the corridor and asked them to direct her to where Malcolm Baddock might be. Which was how she found the War Room.

“Malcolm?” She asked after pushing the door open slightly, tapping on the wood to get whoever was inside’s attention. “Charlie Weasley sent me.”

( Quibbler article Wednesday, April 9 )