Double Secret Keepers?

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26792

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., catherine at c... wrote:

> > > Just listening to Fudge's account of what happened prior to the 
> > > Potters being murdered, and I heard that Sirius Black was 
> planning 
> > on 
> > > going into hiding.  I thought struck me.  If Sirius was 
> originally 
> > > going to be their Secret Keeper, then why couldn't James or 
Lily 
> be 
> > > his Secret Keeper?  That way all of them would have been 
> impossible 
> > > to find.
> > > 
> > > Why didn't they think of that?
> > > 
> > > Catherine
> > > (BTW:  I know the answer is that otherwise most of the plot in 
> PoA 
> > > would be redundant, but still...)
> > 
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., s_luhtanen at h... wrote:> > Couple of 
reasons: a) Because the Spell itself makes it impossible.
> 
Catherine wrote:> Excuse me for being incredibly dense, but why does 
the spell itself 
> make it impossible?
> 

Let me see if I've got this straight, Catherine.  You're saying James 
and Lily should have used Peter as their Secret Keeper and also 
functioned as Secret Keepers for Sirius, right?

I don't think we know whether it is impossible for Sirius to use Lily 
and James as his Secret Keeper, while Peter serves as Secret Keeper 
for the Potters (I'll call it a Secret Keepers triangle).  We do know 
that the Fidelius Charm is very complex, so if they switched to Peter 
at the last second, then they simply may not have had time to do an 
additional Charm.  Or perhaps they were planning on doing just what 
you suggest, but Peter betrayed the Potters before Sirius could set 
it up.

But consider this:  I think we can assume that there are limitations 
on how many layers of Secret Keepers you can have.  If there were 
not, then the Potters don't need Sirius as Secret Keeper at all.  
Lily can be Secret Keeper for James, and James can serve for Lily 
(I'll call it Reciprocal Secret Keepers).  So the fact that they 
don't do this suggests that it is not possible.  And if Reciprocal 
Secret Keepers won't work, then maybe a Secret Keeper triangle won't 
work, either.

Or, at least, that's my take.  

Cindy (who is getting a little dizzy just thinking about this)