Harry Potter and the Prime Minister's Plan.

[The Romulan Republic]

Too late to edit, but I should add that another point is that Bond is also completely new to this world. He is still getting his mind around the fact that magic exists, and doesn't know all of the limitations of a wand vs. a gun, and vice versa. So he's trying to quickly fill in the gaps in his knowledge, and figure out which parts of his training and experience are still applicable, which need to be revised, and which need to be thrown out the window/completely reinvented. And to make it worse, their are very few people who he can confer with, because the PM and M are trying to keep the information about magic to as small a circle as possible. So Bond is almost single-handedly trying to invent an entire new doctrine on the fly.

Q would of course be of inestimable help in this, but Q does not appear in the Craig Bond continuity until Skyfall. However, depending on how this story goes, I might write sequels showing how Skyfall and Spectre play out in this new continuity. In which case, Q would almost certainly feature.

[Highlord Laan]

Too late to edit, but I should add that another point is that Bond is also completely new to this world. He is still getting his mind around the fact that magic exists, and doesn't know all of the limitations of a wand vs. a gun, and vice versa. So he's trying to quickly fill in the gaps in his knowledge, and figure out which parts of his training and experience are still applicable, which need to be revised, and which need to be thrown out the window/completely reinvented. And to make it worse, their are very few people who he can confer with, because the PM and M are trying to keep the information about magic to as small a circle as possible. So Bond is almost single-handedly trying to invent an entire new doctrine on the fly.

Q would of course be of inestimable help in this, but Q does not appear in the Craig Bond continuity until Skyfall. However, depending on how this story goes, I might write sequels showing how Skyfall and Spectre play out in this new continuity. In which case, Q would almost certainly feature.

If one needs to create new covert action doctrine on the fly, Bond is one of the few I'd choose to do so. As for Q, you could always tap Arthur Weasley for the job, to add in some humor. Starts out his bumbling but intelligent norm, but quickly gets in the game in a big way once he realizes the stakes.

[Solauren]

Too late to edit, but I should add that another point is that Bond is also completely new to this world. He is still getting his mind around the fact that magic exists, and doesn't know all of the limitations of a wand vs. a gun, and vice versa. So he's trying to quickly fill in the gaps in his knowledge, and figure out which parts of his training and experience are still applicable, which need to be revised, and which need to be thrown out the window/completely reinvented. And to make it worse, their are very few people who he can confer with, because the PM and M are trying to keep the information about magic to as small a circle as possible. So Bond is almost single-handedly trying to invent an entire new doctrine on the fly.

Q would of course be of inestimable help in this, but Q does not appear in the Craig Bond continuity until Skyfall. However, depending on how this story goes, I might write sequels showing how Skyfall and Spectre play out in this new continuity. In which case, Q would almost certainly feature.

If one needs to create new covert action doctrine on the fly, Bond is one of the few I'd choose to do so. As for Q, you could always tap Arthur Weasley for the job, to add in some humor. Starts out his bumbling but intelligent norm, but quickly gets in the game in a big way once he realizes the stakes.

Plot twist: Arthur worked was also the head of the M.O.M's version of the 'Q' branch for Aurors that had to interact with muggles.

[The Romulan Republic]

Hmm. I'm still working on how the Weasleys will fit into all of this, but I think that canon Arthur would get a rather rude awakening from someone like Bond- my perspective of Mr. Weasley is that, while he means well, he basically since Muggles as an interesting curiosity, and that even when he compliments them, its in the "Oh, isn't that adorable" sort of patronizing way we might respond to a dog that learned how to flush the toilet.

A deadly serious Muggle assassin who is perfectly capable of killing trained wizards might shock him. But then, it would shock most Wizards- hence the humour of it.

[Highlord Laan]

Hmm. I'm still working on how the Weasleys will fit into all of this, but I think that canon Arthur would get a rather rude awakening from someone like Bond- my perspective of Mr. Weasley is that, while he means well, he basically since Muggles as an interesting curiosity, and that even when he compliments them, its in the "Oh, isn't that adorable" sort of patronizing way we might respond to a dog that learned how to flush the toilet.

A deadly serious Muggle assassin who is perfectly capable of killing trained wizards might shock him. But then, it would shock most Wizards- hence the humour of it.

Thats always something thats lurked in the back of my mind when I read some HP fics. A lot of writers seem to have the idea that muggle-born or half blood magic users have as much if not more connection to the rest of the world than they do to the magical one. Any witch or wizard that thinks muggle governments don't know about them, and that higher-tier military forces don't have operatives trained to deal with them, or are even magic users themselves, are deluded. Especially given the level of outright hostility muggle born witches and wizards face when they interact with the magical world.

Toss in the squibs, and how magicals treat them as little more than well trained animals, and the magical world isn't nearly as secure as those living in it think. It's not like soldiers need electronic gear and wireless whateverthefuck to do their thing. And even the "tech dosen't work" is kind of iffy. Hell, the very page that first gets mentioned in the books by Hermione, Harry checks the time on his digital watch. It's a throwaway line at best.

Now, I'm not saying "Hurrdurr, magical people are dumb." In now way are they stupid. Merely ignorant and insulated and in no way aware of just how thin their social masquerade is becoming.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well I think that even if you presume they manage to plug any leaks from their side, and that most witches and wizards and even squibs remain in the Wizarding World...

Honestly, the proliferation of security cameras alone (plus the ever-expanding global population) is going to make secrecy harder and harder.

Yeah, they're going to get exposed sooner or later.

As to the technology not working thing, in my experience, a lot of fanfic overplays that to technology failing in the presence of any magic, but in the books, I took it as only high concentrations of magic interfering with electronics. I think its telling that the only place in the books that is specifically noted (to my recollection) as having this effect is Hogwarts, which is probably the single greatest concentration of magic in Britain.

[LaCroix]

As to the technology not working thing, in my experience, a lot of fanfic overplays that to technology failing in the presence of any magic, but in the books, I took it as only high concentrations of magic interfering with electronics. I think its telling that the only place in the books that is specifically noted (to my recollection) as having this effect is Hogwarts, which is probably the single greatest concentration of magic in Britain.

And a lot of magic being cast, constantly. I'm pretty sure a lot of early electronics did get fried when magic was cast nearby, due to bad insulation, static electricity and obscure stuff cased by warping the laws of physics. With tubes and relays, early resistors, diodes, and capacitors - don't get me started on transistors - you can do a lot of damage with very little cause. That's why we use those handy ESD protection bracelets that totally do not get in the way, constantly, these days.

If a magic field changes insulation values just a bit, for example, a lot of early capacitors or transistors might just go poof, immediately, for their tolerances were pretty bad. A volt more at a gate, or a fractional ampere amount more due to resistance changes in material - poof.

There is a LOT that can go wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_o ... components

Modern mass manufacture and quality control prevents most of these things, and even the cheapest modern watches are pretty much overengineered, now. There just aren't any parts available that are bad enough, anymore. Competition drove standards up.

Magicals immediately went "Meh, these muggle toys are useless here" back then, and never realized how fast things improved, since their stuff rarely does.

[The Romulan Republic]

That's an interesting theory, but I don't know if it fits.

Again, I don't recall any evidence, in book or film canon, that any heavy use of magic disrupts electricity. I think that that interpretation is "fanon" (Good God, I loath that term, and its implication that there is a set of fan conventions, with no basis in actual canon, which fans and fan fic authors are expected to adhere to). I actually wonder if its bleed-over from other fandoms (off the top of my head, magic in The Dresden Files very much does have a disruptive effect on electricity, and advanced technology in general). Or maybe just the usual tendency by fans to exaggerate certain aspects of canon.

Certainly, to the best of my recollection, we never see the appliances failing at Privet Drive when Harry casts a spell, or lights going out in London when the Knight Bus drives by, or around the Ministry building, or what have you.

If you can cite an example that shows a greater/more general sensitivity of electronics to magic, though, by all means do so. I'm working purely off memory here. But again, I think it is note worthy that the only specific example of this anti-electricity effect, to my knowledge, is Hogwarts (and even then, I don't recall if it was ever mentioned in the films, or just the books).

Now, we do know that their are specific types of magic that shut down electric lights- the Dementors and Dumbledore's deluminator off the top of my head. But those appear to be specially-tailored effects, not a general "anti-electricity field" created by magic or some such.

That's just my personal take off of the evidence available.

Though it occurs to me that the Fantastic Beasts series ought to confirm or refute the idea that early electronics were more sensitive, at least for the film canon.

[Zixinus]

I only have one big criticism of the latest bit: Bond should have brought a bottle and two glasses up with him to help the cover, then once he got off the big questions from the top of his mind he should have bombarded Tonks with more questions. Bond is a spy and for spies information is like water to fish. And agree to meet tomorrow someplace else that is secure. What is Bond supposed to do until then, just blunder around? He is supposed to have a cover of being a squib, how will he do that?

[The Romulan Republic]

Those are fair points.

To the first, I honestly didn't think to include it, though I think its a fairly minor detail. I did, however, mention that Tonks ordered Firewhiskey for them both, though I'd have to go back and check the exact sequence of events.

To the second point, I agree that that would make more sense, and I should have thought of it, but I can only blame the fact that the chapter had already run long, so I cut it short. If you like, blame it on Bond being a bit off his game due to the situation he has found himself in. Bond is good, but this is an Outside Context Problem for him, isn't it? We'll see a bit more of that in the next chapter, I expect.

To the third point, perhaps meeting sooner and elsewhere would work better, but the Leakey Cauldron is easy to access and reasonably secure, while being public enough that they're unlikely to be openly attacked. Especially with magic to secure the place. Unless of course Tonks double-crossed him, but then he'd be up shit creek regardless. That's not to say that Bond will be sitting on his arse for a week, but that'll be covered in next chapter as well. And he can contact Tonks through Kingsley if necessary.

[Zixinus]

Bond seems to be handling the Outside Context problem. If he can't kill Voldemort, he can undercut his support. The issue is that he isn't handling is working in the blind. With an actual blindfold and mufflers on his ears. In a straightjacket. On an alien planet. Tonks should be his lifeline that he would grab with desperate hands and he isn't. Why not? Either he doesn't trust everything Tonks says or is unwilling to push for more information for some reason. Or better, because Tonks would supply him with contacts and other key information.

I have thought a little about what the next step would be and I actually came up with a good idea if Bond is introduced to Diagon alley: he would simply stop a helpful looking person on the street and ask where he can convert his quid to gallons then to the nearest public library. He'd have all the information he'd need there, from newspapers and books. Once with a solid grounding of how things work, he'd put on a disguise, do a pub thrawl and listen to people's opinions, do hands-on and low-risk information gathering about how the world operates and what's going on. Preferably from fellow squibs and muggle wizards for a start. Basic spycraft.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You are of course assuming such a public library even exists. I do not recall any mention of such a place. There is the Hogwarts Library, the Library at Grimmauld Place (and presumably other pureblood homes) and that's about it.

Also, pub crawl means the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head, the latter two of which are in Hogsmeade and inaccessible to Bond for the present. No other pubs are named.

[The Romulan Republic]

Bond seems to be handling the Outside Context problem. If he can't kill Voldemort, he can undercut his support. The issue is that he isn't handling is working in the blind. With an actual blindfold and mufflers on his ears. In a straightjacket. On an alien planet. Tonks should be his lifeline that he would grab with desperate hands and he isn't. Why not? Either he doesn't trust everything Tonks says or is unwilling to push for more information for some reason. Or better, because Tonks would supply him with contacts and other key information.

He will be independently verifying at least some of what Tonks tells him.

All I can say without getting into details is that I am considering the issue, and will be likely exploring it next chapter.

I have thought a little about what the next step would be and I actually came up with a good idea if Bond is introduced to Diagon alley: he would simply stop a helpful looking person on the street and ask where he can convert his quid to gallons then to the nearest public library. He'd have all the information he'd need there, from newspapers and books. Once with a solid grounding of how things work, he'd put on a disguise, do a pub thrawl and listen to people's opinions, do hands-on and low-risk information gathering about how the world operates and what's going on. Preferably from fellow squibs and muggle wizards for a start. Basic spycraft.

Similar ideas occurred to me as well, but perhaps I will elaborate further on them now.

I definitely see Bond as someone who is comfortable in a bar/pub, as well, obviously.

You are of course assuming such a public library even exists. I do not recall any mention of such a place. There is the Hogwarts Library, the Library at Grimmauld Place (and presumably other pureblood homes) and that's about it.

Yeah, the Wizarding World is... small.

That said, they do have bookstores (there's at least one in Diagon Alley), and Gringotts can exchange Muggle money (I presume- I don't recall off the top of my head weather its discussed in the books, but if they didn't, Muggleborns would be kind of screwed, even more than they canonically are). Bond can get into Diagon Ally as long as he has a wizard/witch with him (or, hell, just lounge around the Cauldron waiting for someone else to go through and follow them, or ask the pub's owner to let him through on the pretext that he's a Squib- probably not an unheard of thing), and he'll have money, so there's nothing stopping him from buying books (and possibly back-issues of papers) and reading up.

Also, pub crawl means the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head, the latter two of which are in Hogsmeade and inaccessible to Bond for the present. No other pubs are named.

I'm going to operate on the assumption, I think, that Hogwarts'/Hogsmede's anti-Muggle spells work the same way Diagon Alley's do, at least insofar as they can be revealed to a Muggle by a witch or wizard.

[FaxModem1]

Arthur Weasley spots the Granger family heading to Gringotts in the second book to exchange muggle currency for the magical equivalent. The film changes the lines to being a discussion about them being dentists.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You are of course assuming such a public library even exists. I do not recall any mention of such a place. There is the Hogwarts Library, the Library at Grimmauld Place (and presumably other pureblood homes) and that's about it.

Yeah, the Wizarding World is... small.

That said, they do have bookstores (there's at least one in Diagon Alley), and Gringotts can exchange Muggle money (I presume- I don't recall off the top of my head weather its discussed in the books, but if they didn't, Muggleborns would be kind of screwed, even more than they canonically are). Bond can get into Diagon Ally as long as he has a wizard/witch with him (or, hell, just lounge around the Cauldron waiting for someone else to go through and follow them, or ask the pub's owner to let him through on the pretext that he's a Squib- probably not an unheard of thing), and he'll have money, so there's nothing stopping him from buying books (and possibly back-issues of papers) and reading up.

Also, pub crawl means the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head, the latter two of which are in Hogsmeade and inaccessible to Bond for the present. No other pubs are named.

I'm going to operate on the assumption, I think, that Hogwarts'/Hogsmede's anti-Muggle spells work the same way Diagon Alley's do, at least insofar as they can be revealed to a Muggle by a witch or wizard.

I know they have bookstores and I know you can exchange money - it's the diea of a public library that isn't mentioned anywhere.

Also, when I said Hogsmeade was inaccessible, I meant it as a) he doesn't yet know where it is and b) when he does learn it, he's in London and the town is in Scotland. I don't think it was every mentioned that Hogsmeade has anti-muggle wards, though that can be reasonably inferred if it's an all-wizard village.

[Elheru Aran]

Having not read the story but I'll just jump in here real quick-- public libraries aren't as common in the UK as they are in the US (as far as I know, I could well be wrong). Regardless of IRL commonality, given the potential effects of reading magical texts and learning the wrong thing, I can easily see libraries of magical books being fairly rare, generally confined to institutions or private collections. Mundane books of course nobody minds those, but why bother making a magical library of mundane books when you have Muggle libraries available already?

[Zixinus]

Just going through an archive of newspapers would be very informative. For convinent book, I'd suggest something like "an introduction to the wizarding world for muggle-born wizards", which I would wager is a textbook that he could buy in a bookstore, if Bond thought to look for one.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Again, no archive of papers is ever mentioned, and as Elheru mentioned, those are rare (you do get a fair number of public libraries, but they usually just have books and such, not archives of papers.

As for A muggleborn guide to the wizarding world, given how muggleborn are treated, such a thing, if it exists, is not likely to be very informative.

[Elheru Aran]

An archive of newspapers, at least fairly recent ones, could perhaps be found by going to a news-seller's stall and asking if they have any old issues "for wrapping packages, don't you know"? Certainly they would probably throw out or recycle old issues, but that wouldn't be a daily thing, I suspect.

Though with Harry Potter's technology level, I wouldn't put it past them to be able to either print newspapers on demand, or just have a single piece of magical newspaper that automatically gets updated daily...

EDIT: Similarly, they probably could archive newspapers automatically on some kind of magical microfiche rather than having a physical pile of newspapers. Doesn't mean they DO, but they could; it'd be fairly trivial with their technology level.

[Tribble]

Speaking of tech level, once Bond figures out that the Magical world has very limited real-time communications he ought to be given Tonks / other allies a cellphone + earpiece or something. They'll be able to coordinate a lot better than the Death Eaters unless there is some kind of spell in the area which jams electronics.

[The Romulan Republic]

Again, no archive of papers is ever mentioned, and as Elheru mentioned, those are rare (you do get a fair number of public libraries, but they usually just have books and such, not archives of papers.

As for A muggleborn guide to the wizarding world, given how muggleborn are treated, such a thing, if it exists, is not likely to be very informative.

Eh, not all the wizard are raging bigots, and we don't know if Britain is typical of their whole world in that respect. Given how many wizards and witches have Muggle relatives, I'm sure someone, somewhere has written this.

In fact, I think I'd like to borrow this idea. I'm not sure how to work it in yet, but if I can, I will.

And speaking of wizards outside of Britain... I'd really love to work Felix Lieter of the CIA into this somehow. I just haven't figured out how yet. But Bond needs his American buddy.

As to accessing Hogsmede/Hogwarts... I'd presume that with wizarding contacts and knowledge of their world, Bond could access Hogsmede. Hogwarts... he could probably get in in theory, but he'd have no legitimate reason for being their, and most schools don't let strange adults wander the premises at will. Especially during a civil war.

Tonks could probably get him in though. As I recall, she was on the Ministry security detail for Hogwarts in book six.

[Zaune]

Again, I don't recall any evidence, in book or film canon, that any heavy use of magic disrupts electricity. I think that that interpretation is "fanon" (Good God, I loath that term, and its implication that there is a set of fan conventions, with no basis in actual canon, which fans and fan fic authors are expected to adhere to). I actually wonder if its bleed-over from other fandoms (off the top of my head, magic in The Dresden Files very much does have a disruptive effect on electricity, and advanced technology in general). Or maybe just the usual tendency by fans to exaggerate certain aspects of canon.

The way I approached this issue in my own HP fan works was to treat magic as something like EM radiation; spells create brief bursts of it, while wards or enchanted objects emit varying amounts continuously. Somewhere like Hogwarts has so much stray magic in the background that even the crudest PCB wouldn't last long without serious hardening, but simple electrical circuits like an electric torch would be unaffected, as would most chemical reactions.

[The Romulan Republic]

That's an interesting possibility. Honestly, I think there are a lot of ways you can take it. The only hard facts we have, to my knowledge, are:

a) Hogwarts shuts down electronics.

b) Not all magic/ordinary magic does.

c) Some types of magic specifically kill electric light (though evidently through different means than an EMP- Dementors kill all lighting, for example- even daylight, I believe).

[Elheru Aran]

c) Some types of magic specifically kill electric light (though evidently through different means than an EMP- Dementors kill all lighting, for example- even daylight, I believe).

The only one that did that IIRC was the 'put-outter' that Dumbledore used, and I want to say that probably could've worked with any artificial light source. *checks* It appears to have worked on lamps, so not just electricity.

What else did you have in mind for that category?

[The Romulan Republic]

Dementors, as I said. They shut down all light in their area of effect.