[HPforGrownups] Harry's Protection

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 48534

> 
> Pickle Jimmy wrote:
> 
> >If Harry is so protected (by ancient magic) at the Dursleys, why
> >could Sirius (the dog) find him so easily in PoA??
> >I know that when Harry saw Sirius!Dog he wasn't at home - he 
> had just 
> >escaped Aunt Marge - but surely the protection isn't just over 
> >Privett Drive or he'd be vunerable while at school (muggle not 
> >hogwarts).
> >
And Emma, in her first post, asked a sensible question:
> Equally, how did Dobby find Harry? Even without the ancient 
> magical protection,
> how on earth did he know where Harry was? We know Ron and the 
> other Weasley's
> know (they write to him by Muggle post, they drive magical 
> cars there),
> but by what route could Dobby possibly have found out Harry's address?
> 

There are a variety of possible answers to these questions.

It's possible that the ancient magic protecting Harry protects him only
from wizards or witches who intend to do him harm (which would make the
protection useless at keeping the house elves awak (or lethifolds, for
that matter, but that's for another set of speculative posts). 

It's also possible that the ancient magic protects him against anything
magical that wants to harm him, which would give space for Dudley to use
him as a punching bag (but would give credence to those who say
Pentunia's a squib, as the one time we see her try to hurt Harry, he
ducks the soapy pan). 

I can't see how the ancient magic protects him from anyone who wants to
hurt him, though, as Dudley seems to do a bit of that in canon, so it
seems like it should be something in between total protection and
something limited. 

However, that doesn't mean that Privet Drive is unplottable. There have
been a number of theories here, and elsewhere in the fandom (like in
fanfics) which suggest that Sirius knew where Lily's sister lived,
perhaps related to events surrounding James and Lily's wedding, perhaps
because he offered to send out birth announcements when Harry was born,
a number of reasons. Or he just knew the name Dursley and that they
lived in Surrey (again from Lily) and looked in a phone book when he
escaped from Azkaban. He knew, from Hagrid, that Harry was being taken
there, so it was a good shot that in August, he'd still be there. 

Dobby, likewise, may've simply found out Harry's location via Lucius. A
governor of Hogwarts, which Lucius was that year, would likely have that
information on hand, or be able to get access to it very easily. Or he
could've obtained it from the Ministry. Of course, it's also entirely
possible that Draco actually knew about Lucius' plans and sent Dobby
himself, but forbade Dobby from telling Harry. Narcissa may've sent
Dobby as well - we really don't know at this point in canon. I admit,
it's farfetched, but not totallly canon-barred. 


heidi