OOP: Twelve Grimmauld...a problem

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 63371

 Diana L. wrote:

>My question is, since Narcissa's mother was Sirius' 
> cousin, wouldn't Narcissa and her sister Bellatrix (the escaped 
> Death Eater) both have visited the house sometime in the past in 
> order to visit their relatives?  Maybe they weren't close enough to 
> visit each other, but I'd be surprised if that were the case.  
> Wouldn't they already know where the house is located, Secret 
Keeper 
> or not, because they'd been to it before?  
> 
> Anyone have a plausible explaination for this?  

Me:

But keep in mind that the house doesn't exist until Dumbledore 
invites you there. Harry sees number 11 and number 13, and it is only 
when he concentrates on Dumbledore's information that number 12 
actually becomes existent. This fact is very good in explaining the 
whole secret-keeper fiasco extremly well- after all, people always 
used to suggest that there were people outside of the Potter's secret-
keeper (like Sirius, for instacne) who knew where they were staying, 
so, why then couldn't they tell anyone?? It appears that whilst other 
people know the location of the secret, until the secret-kepper 
divulges this information that location doesn't exist for them.

So, to answer your question more directly- Narcissa Malfoy knows that 
Sirius's house is 12 Gimmauld Place and that Kreacher belongs there. 
So, on Kreacher's arrival it's not hard to work out that Sirius and 
the Order of the Phoenix are using 12 Grimmauld as some kind of base. 
BUT, until Albus Dumbledore invites them there, they could walk 
between numbers 11 and 13, and no matter what they do, 12 would never 
become visible.

~<(Laurasia)>~
(who is very glad that the whole secret-keeper deal was explained 
nicely in OOP.)