Why did the Potters have a Secret Keeper at all? Why not just hide?

[psychic_serpent]

No: HPFGUIDX 57173

Melanie L Ellis <emeleel at j...> wrote:

I was thinking about the whole Potters/Secret Keeper thing. Why did 
they need a Secret Keeper at all? Why not just run away and hide, 
covering their tracks with various Unplottable spells and similar 
things? Then there would be nobody to betray them. (Okay, and no 
story either, shoot me! <G>) Lily grew up as a Muggle, so they 
should be able to blend right in no matter where they lived. I'd be 
interested in theories.
 
Here's mine:
 
I think Prof. Trelawney and the centaurs predicted that Harry would 
be the downfall of LV. Since the centaurs also "saw" it, DD took it 
seriously. Either the prediction was vague enough that they had no 
idea when this would take place, or else there were some specifics 
that would have to play out before the downfall would occur. So DD 
and/or the MoM would need to be able to get hold of the Potters at 
some point to bring Harry into the mix to bring about the downfall 
of LV. 

Me:

While it is highly likely that Voldemort suspected that Harry would 
be a problem for him and that's why he went after him while he was a 
helpless baby (like many figures in fairy tales/mythology who have 
done the same thing) it seems far less likely that the Ministry or 
even Dumbledore had some sort of plan for Harry to actively defeat 
Voldemort at some point.  Many people in the wizarding world, like 
McGonagall (a very respected professor) seem to place relatively 
little faith in Divination.

Melanie L Ellis <emeleel at j...> wrote:

So - since DD and/or the MoM would need to be able to contact the 
Potters, they needed to have that one link open, the Secret Keeper. 
When the time came, they would be able to ask him where the Potters 
were hiding, and they could go get them and bring out Harry to 
battle LV. (Or ask the Secret Keeper to go get them.) 

Me:

While I agree that the Secret Keeper would be a way of tracking down 
people in hiding, again, I don't think Harry was considered by the 
MoM to be a 'tool' for bringing about Voldemort's fall.  If there 
was no Secret Keeper, it would be in essence like someone going into 
the witness protection program and the government employee who knew 
where the witness was located dying on the very day all of his 
office records are destroyed in a fire--that witness would, in 
effect, be lost forever unless he made an effort to contact anyone 
he used to know.  Which would make it possible for people to want to 
hurt the witness to find him.  The Secret Keeper would probably 
usually also function as a link between someone in hiding and the 
wizarding world.  The Potters probably wouldn't have wanted to lose 
touch with that world completely.

Aside: Is it possible that post owls would be affected by the 
Fidelius Charm, and any post that was supposed to go to people 
protected by the charm would go to the Secret Keeper instead?  I 
just thought of that. <g>

Melanie L Ellis <emeleel at j...> wrote:

Of course, they had no way of knowing that the Secret Keeper was 
going to be the big loophole in the whole thing and destroy 
everything they worked so hard for. And LV was fool enough to think 
that he could balk the prediction by going after a baby and got 
himself zapped for his trouble.

Me:

Well, he obviously read the Evil Overlord Handbook that says, "When 
a Seer tells you that a little baby will be responsible for your 
fall, you must immediately attempt to kill him/her, even though it 
is likely to bring about your own death and/or someone will just 
save the baby anyway and raise him/her in a safe, hidden environment 
until he/she is old enough to kick your Evil Overlord arse, if you 
are still around."  If he didn't do it, he wouldn't qualify as an 
EO, after all. <snerk>


--Barb

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