Fidelius Charm/Sirius

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 33670

I'm going to ask a relly dumb question, but I have realised that I just don't 
understand the Fidelius Charm.

The secret is hidden in a single living soul and is impossible to find unless 
the secret-keeper chooses to divulge it.

What about those who knew the secret of the Potter's whereabouts before the 
spell was cast?
Do they lose the knowledge until the secret-keeper choses to tell them? Or is 
it just that any information they pass on becomes meaningless? I ask because 
Sirius was obviously party to the secret.

But WHY did Sirius feel the need to create a bluff in switching to Pettigrew? 
If he was willing to die rather than give them away, what was the 
problem?(other than the minor one of wishing to avoid death/ torture). I 
could understand James wanting to protect Sirius, but it was he who had to be 
persuaded to switch. I should have thought that Sirius would have seen 
himself as the best man for the job and taken on the role with pride as 
James' best friend. In addition to which, his ability to transform into a dog 
would have made him pretty hard to find (and he could have frightened all 
those nasty DEs to death by pretending to be a grim!). And another thing - 
was it only Dumbledore who suspected there was a spy in the organisation? It 
would just have been safer not to trust anyone else.

Eloise



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