[HPforGrownups] James, Peter, Dumbledore, Secret Keeper

[Mary Shearer]

No: HPFGUIDX 34277


--- charisjulia <pollux46 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>( Just a note: When Remus asks Sirius to forgive him
> for suspecting
>  him in PoA I always thought he was referring to his
> believing that
>  Sirius had been a spy *after* the Potter tragedy
> when Sirius had
> been
>  hauled off to Azkaban with all that evidence
> against him not at the
>  same time Sirius had suspected Lupin.)

I rechecked the book and that does make sense!
 

> Errr, I'm afraid I don't quite follow your
> theory Why would
>  James trust Peter to be his secret-keeper if he
> suspected him of
>  treachery? Maybe he'd hold back from openly
> accusing a friend of
>  spying for Voldemort if he didn't have definite
> proof, but that's a
>  far cry from literally handing himself and his
> family over to the
>  enemy! And if he didn't suspect Pettigrew why would
> he suspect
>  Sirius? Whatsmore if James thought there was a
> possibility that
>  Sirius had gone over to the other side I'd expect
> him to confront
>  Sirius about it (after all Neville stood up to his
> friends as early
>  as PS, I'd expect no less of a grown Gryffindor).
> Unless of course
>  he
>  had too unshakable a faith in the loyalty of his
> friends to even
>  consider the possibility that they could betray
> him. But that
>  scenario defeats the object because we preclude
> that James was
>  certain of Sirius and Peter and therefore he could
> not have spent
>  his last hours in uncertainty!

Well - I told ya I was depressed! Thanks for lifting
me out of the doldrums.  It seems the story at face
value is plenty dark enough for all of us high drama
junkies. I read through the passage that explains the
events leading up to the Potters' betrayal, and noted
that Sirius gives his reason for the switch. He is not
acting out of any sense of self-preservation...quite
the opposite...he is setting himself up as a decoy to
lead V. off the Potters' trail.  He must suspect
Lupin, however, because he finds out the truth shortly
after the Potters' death, yet apologizes to Remus in
the shack 12 years later.  It stands to reason that he
would have shared these suspicions with James when
persuading him to make the switch. Still heartbreaking
for the Potters, but at least their relationship with
Sirius remains intact.   
 
<snip - a really good analysis of what must have
happened that night>
 However
> there is one flaw
> in
>  the Sirius-Secret Keeper plan that even James could
> not ignore: if
>  Sirius would as James puts it "rather die than tell
> were they were"
>  then is it not logical that James would want to
> ensure that his
>  treasured possessions, let alone his son were
> entrusted to someone
>  other than the one man without whose death James
> and Lily's could
> not
>  occur? So he gives Dumbledore the coat and maybe
> asks him to take
>  care of Harry as well and gives him the key to the
> Gringotts vault
>  though does it ever explicitly say in the books
> that he does these
> 2
>  last things?

It doesn't - but your scenario makes sense regarding
the safekeeping of his treasured possessions.  As for
Harry and his welfare, you may be right in your later
comments that Dumbledore, in the aftermath and amid
evidence of Sirius' betrayal, may have simply taken
the job upon himself.  He sent Hagrid to Godric's
Hollow to retrieve the baby, where he met up with a
distraut Sirius who gave him the motorcycle, stating
that he "wouldn't need it anymore."  In a classic case
of misunderstanding, everyone assumes the worst about
Sirius, because he does not reveal to Hagrid who the
real secret keeper is.  Had he only done that, things
could have turned out quite differently, and there
would have been more than just one person available to
confront Peter on that city street. Whew! Am I glad
that James at least died knowing who his best friend
was - as to the rest of it, it's still horribly sad,
and plenty dramatic.  
-Mary, who thanks charisjulia for poking those nice,
neat holes. 




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