[HPforGrownups] Re: Magical protection -- last words on Fidelius

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 44980

At 22:29 04/10/02 +0000, pcnsc2002 wrote:
>Okay. I'll let this be my final msg on this thread (to the cheers of
>thousands!)

I suspect it may well not be. :-) I've just posted a lengthy reply to your 
arguments in another sub-thread. Some of it could be construed as a reply 
to this one as well, but there's one specific point I'd like to add.

>This is not what Professor Flitwick says about the Charm in Prisoner
>of Azkaban. He manifestly does not say that the Fidelius Charm hides
>people.
>
>What he says is the following:
>
>"An immensely complex spell," he said squeakily, "involving the
>magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The
>information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper,
>and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the
>Secret-Keepr chooses to divulge it." (Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter
>ten, "The Marauder's Map" page 152.)
>
>This is his definition of the Fidelius Charm. It involves
>concealment of information, not of persons.

You missed out the next sentence he said, which is vitally important in 
this conversation, because it defined the exact application of the Fidelius 
in this particular instance:

"As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search 
the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find 
them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

Reproducing the quote without that last sentence is akin to reducing 
Animagus transformation to Transfiguration.

What that sentence adds to the equation (I'm deliberately reusing your 
words) is that he manifestly states that the Fidelius Charm was used to 
hide the Potters from view. Furthermore, he implies that *only* the 
Secret-Keeper would be able to reveal their presence (i.e. the Potters 
would not).

Now then, if its use in Harry's case was not to hide him while he's at the 
Dursleys,
to what use *was* it put? What possible "information" regarding Harry would 
the Fidelius Charm be used to hide, if not his presence?

 >But I still am certain Fidelius was one of the charms protecting
>Harry, at least up until he attended Hogwarts.

As certain as I am that it was not? :-)

>MarEprhaim
>(sitting back, with folded arms, in Hargrid-like resolve)

--
GulPlum, taking up *exactly* the same stance. :-)
(adding that his stance probably looks more impressive, due to being not 
dissimilar in size to Robbie Coltrane) :-)