Arabella Figg as Secret Keeper (or, rather, not)

[Aesha Williams]

No: HPFGUIDX 45694

> Sally says:
> OTOH, it's possible that something along the lines of a Fidelius
> Charm could have been put to use, in which case she wouldn't need any
> special skill to keep him safe, just the ability to keep a secret.
>
> But supposing the former is the case, then she would be an obvious
> candidate for the new appointment of DADA teacher. And as LV is once
> more on the loose, it also makes sense that AF will be protecting HP
> at school as well as at home, now that the LV-danger-factor has
> increased.

    I am really curious about Figg. I mean, there must be something that
Dumbledore was worried about re: Harry, if he had her move over to Privet
Drive to watch over him. And, especially considering he's had her live there
for 13 years- so he was afraid that someone would come after him,
eventually. And I wonder who else knows that this has taken place (Figg's
watchful eye over Harry)- since no one else in the WW, with the exception of
Dumbledore, has really paid any mind to where Harry disappeared to all those
years ago (though it makes me wonder- since he's in all the history books,
of course people knew he'd gone to stay with relatives. I mean, wouldn't
people wonder why no one ever met HP before in the WW or anything?) So Figg
has either disappeared for over a decade as well, or she moves more freely
between the muggle and wizarding worlds. And while before I never really was
one of those who believed she'd undergone a little bit of transfiguration to
appear older, I now wonder if she has- I am not at all familiar with the
geography of England, or how large the town is supposed to be, but if
someone happened to see her shopping one day or something, wouldn't they
perhaps put 2+2 together (especially someone like Lucius)?
    Anyway, that was way off from where I had intended to start this post. I
was going to talk about the Fidelus Charm. Several people think that
Arabella is Harry's secret-keeper. The only problem I find is this: If Harry
were being protected under the Fidelus charm, would he not be protected at
Hogwarts as well, provided she knew he was there (I'm kind of assuming that
the SK must know where the person was, otherwise the spell wouldn't seem to
make much sense- why not just make whoever your SK and then just take off
somewhere, so that *no one* would know where you were?) Anyway, if she was
the SK, I don't think it would matter if Harry was at The Burrow all summer
or not- the DE's and Voldemort still wouldn't know where he was. And so it
gets a little hairy (pardon the pun)- is there another form of the Fidelus?
Or some similar charm? I mean, he's at Hogwarts and obviously other people
can see him there, so any one of them could tell their parents they went to
school with Harry and everyone would know. (because doesn't the Fidelus, in
effect, make people invisible to all except their SK?) I don't know, my
thoughts are not as clear as I'd like because I'm tired. So I hope and pray
that this makes at least a *tiny* bit of sense. I guess, in essence, I feel
that the Fidelus can't be what's protecting Harry, because he's in
*everyone's* plain sight, except, apparently, when he's at home. And it
seems that by definition of the Fidelus that you'd be cloaked at all times
until your SK decided to divulge where you were. Maybe that makes more
sense!

Aesha