Peter, Sirius and Secret Keeping (was: Re: Dumbledore's Spies)

[jakedjensen]

No: HPFGUIDX 81745

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Iggy McSnurd" 
<coyoteschild at p...> wrote:
<SNIP>
 
> 3 - It's logical that Peter would have told a few members of the 
OotP, even
> despite his alleigence to LV.  As crafty as he is, Peter would have 
realized
> that by telling a few others "just in case" would have drawn even 
more
> suspicion away from him when things did go down.  When all is said 
and done,
> one of Peter's first goals is to avoid blame and suspicion.
> > 
> Comments?  Dissentions?
> 
> Iggy McSnurd
>

This does not account for why DD and co think Sirius betrayed the 
Potters.  If Peter told them all (as secret keeper) where the Potters 
were then they would all have known that Peter was the traitor and 
not Sirius.  In PoA, Minerva & Hagrid (see conversation at the Three 
Broomsticks) both clearly think that Sirius was the secret keeper and 
the traitor to boot.

Furthermore, someone besides Peter and Sirius had to know where the 
Potters were in order for that fateful night to make sense.  Even if 
the charm was broken by the slaying of the Potters, Godric's Hollow 
is not a pure wizarding community (in England, only Hogs is).  The 
Potters house exploded (it is described as such by Hagrid in SS/PS) 
drawing the attention of muggles (Hagrid just beat the muggles to the 
house in SS/PS).  So how did Hagrid beat everybody there?  When a 
house explodes, the police/fire dept (even muggles) arrive pretty 
quickly.  

Simple solution: if the secret can be passed from one keeper to 
another (maintaining the network of people who already know the 
secret) than all of the Order could have known where the Potters were 
and still think Sirius was the keeper (because he and Peter switched 
at the last moment).

Jake