Not the Fidelius Charm! /minor OotP Spoiler (was: How did Sirius find Harry?)

[psychic_serpent]

No: HPFGUIDX 57489

"cgbrennan2003" <cgbrennan at a...> wrote:
I don't know if this has already been discussed, since I'm new (so 
please forgive me) but how did Sirius find Harry?  If, and it seems 
this is the general consensus, that Arabella Figg is Harry's secret 
keeper, no one should have been able to find him.  

Me:

Well, first of all, there isn't anything even close to a 'consensus' 
on Mrs. Figg being Harry's Secret Keeper, or Harry having a Secret 
Keeper at all.  Many, many folks think the Fidelius Charm is the 
last thing likely to be protecting Harry on Privet Drive.  It seems 
to be a cycle that every five or six months or so, folks propose 
this idea and then other folks give the many reasons why this 
probably isn't so. In GoF, Voldemort says:

"But how to get at Harry Potter?  For he has been better protected 
than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore 
long ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. 
Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection 
as long as he is in his relations' care. Not even I can touch him 
there..."

In Message 44960, I said in part:

This strongly implies a more esoteric spell than the Fidelius Charm, 
which I believe Voldemort would identify by name if that were the 
source of protection. There is another argument for it being a 
different spell as well: Dumbledore is unlikely to use the very 
spell that resulted in Harry's parents' deaths, as he is painfully 
aware of the fallibility of Fidelius. The Secret Keeper is the
weak link. He clearly needed to do something more drastic than use 
the Fidelius Charm to protect Harry, and it's worked. The Fidelius 
Charm is never called "an ancient magic" in PoA. I believe Voldemort 
is talking about something else entirely.

"cgbrennan2003" <cgbrennan at a...> wrote:

In PofA, p. 205. Fudge explains that the secret "...is henceforth 
impossible to find -unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to 
divulge it.  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!"

"guardianapcelt" <guardianapcelt at y...> wrote:
  
Well, maybe there are some exceptions to that rule. You've got to 
admit, Fudge isn't the best of sources on the matter, incompetant 
windbag that he is. 

Me:

Take away the Fidelius Charm, and there is no need for an 
exception.  If the 'ancient magic,' the nature of which I'm sure 
we'll learn in OotP when Dumbledore tells Harry 'everything,' 
(there's my OotP spoiler) has the effect of only keeping dark 
wizards away, then that would explain why all of the other 'good' 
magical people were able to get to Privet Drive with no problem:  
Dobby (who isn't a wizard anyway, and so can't be a dark wizard), 
Ron and the twins (twice) Mr. Weasley (once) and presumably the 
members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad who had to puncture 
Aunt Marge and alter her memory.  None of these people should have 
been able to find Harry's home if he'd been protected by the 
Fidelius Charm.  It is quite clear that Dumbledore has moved on to 
something far better.

--Barb

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