Pondering that Secret Keeper thing

[Kelly]

No: HPFGUIDX 77865

> A thought from CW:
> 
> The killing of Lily and James perhaps instantly destroyed the 
effect 
> of the Fidelius charm ? And as the house was apparently also 
reduced 
> to rubble as part of the attack, presumably any number of witches 
and 
> wizards in the Godric Hollow area would immediately be able to see 
> what had happened and send owls to all and sundry ?

Sorry about the double post on this subject.  I sent the first in 
haste before completing it.

Here are a few points I have been pondering regarding the Fidelius 
charm on the Godric Hollow House.

1.  If Lily and James dying lifted the charm then why wasn't Harry 
protected as well.  Harry was still alive, so the death of the 
occupants being the charm would mean baby Harry was not part of the 
spell.  Also, if the owner of the house being dead lifts the Fidelius 
charm, would that nullify the charm on Grimmauld Place now that 
Sirius is dead?

2.  I think a key to this is the destruction of the house.  We know 
from GoF (Chapter One:  The Riddle House) that Avada Kadavra only 
kills the body when it hits (notice I say when it hits).  It seems, 
however, that curses that don't hit a person can do quite a bit of 
destruction:

"Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield.  This 
time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, 
that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces. . .(OoTP AM 
814)" 

We also see some evidence of this is the graveyard scene in GOF when 
the gravestone cracks after being hit with a curse.  I assume this is 
an effect of particularly strong curses or the walls of Hogwarts 
would be pockmarked with students missed attempts at each other.

Therefore, I think that the destruction of the house shows that quite 
a bit more went on at Godric's Hollow that a clean and easy killing 
of James and Lily. 

3.  We know that the secret keeper can write the location and have 
that paper be handed over by a third party (OoTP "'Here,' Moody 
muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment toward Harry's Disillusioned 
hand and holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the 
writing.  "Read quickly and memorize.' (OoTP AM 58)" There does seem 
to be a wording issue here as the note carefully spells out 
the "what" and "where" of the location.

It is possible that the charm on James, Lily and Harry's house was 
something to the effect of:

James and Lily Potter may be found at (address here) Godric's Hollow.

This would make more sense if their death's did, in fact, nullify the 
charm.  Whereas the wording of the Grimmauld is:

"The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 
twelve, Grimmauld Place, London (OoTP AM 58)."

Under this logic it would take the dissolution of the Order of the 
Phoenix to break the charm and not simply the death of the owner.

If a note such as this 2was made by Pettigrew upon becoming Secret 
Keeper, it would explain Sirius being at the scene.  I can see the 
Potter's allowing their friend to know their whereabouts and that 
would mean he could visit the house without further ado.  Since only 
Sirius, Peter and the Potters knew about the change in keepers, 
though, it does not explain Hagrid though.

Here is the most logical explaination I can arrive at:
Sirius, who was told the location by Peter, went into the ruins of 
the house and came out with baby Harry.  He then turned Harry over to 
Hagrid (along with his motorbike).  

The other explaination is that JKR, while writing the first book, had 
no idea people would be picking it apart to this degree and it is 
simply an oversight...

Kelly