DD: an appreciation plus Lupin - again.

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 97063

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scoutmom21113" <navarro198 at h...> wro=
te:
> 
> Bookworm:
> IIRC, the Potters went into hiding about a week before they were 
> attacked. So they weren't cut off for a long time. If nothing else, 
> they probably were able to receive Owl Posts to get news from 
> friends and fellow Order members.
> 
> The way I understood the description of how Peter was picked to be 
> Secret Keeper is that Sirius was picked first, but before the charm 
> was cast, he suggested using Peter instead. So I don't think Sirius 
> ever was the Secret Keeper.
> 
> Here's the paradox: Only the Secret Keeper can tell someone else the 
> secret – in this case the location of the Potters. Only Sirius 
> *admits* to knowing that Peter is the Secret Keeper, which implies 
> that only Peter and the people he tells (Sirius and Voldemort that 
> we know of) know where they were. Evidence indicates that Dumbledore 
> knew where the Potters were and somehow he was able to tell Hagrid 
> where to go that night. (Dumbledore didn't actually say he believed 
> Sirius was the Secret Keeper, he said he gave evidence about it – 
> what that evidence was he didn't state.) 
> 
> So who else did Peter tell, and why wouldn't they say something 
> about it when Sirius was accused? Where does Remus fit into this 
> picture? Was it really James' voice Harry hears? How was Dumbledore 
> able to tell Hagrid the secret? If Harry was one of the potential 
> subjects of the prophecy, it doesn't make sense for the fidelius 
> charm to quit working when James and Lily are dead but Harry is 
> still alive. Someone knows something and isn't telling!
> 
> Ravenclaw Bookworm <Who wants to know where is Hercule Poirot and 
> his little gray cells when we need him?>


Maybe if we clear away a bit  of the undergrowth  by considering what
we know about Fedelius charms (based on Grimmauld Place) and add in
a bit of reasonable supposition, we might be able to make even more of
a hash of it than we're doing at present.

OK. What we know:
1. Only the Secret Keeper can divulge the secret.
2. You only need to be told the secret once to be able to use it repeatedly=
.
3. Even if you accompany someone privy to the secret to the 'hidden' 
location, you cannot 'see' it until the Keeper reveals the location to you.=

4. Revealing the location need not be done in person. It can be in the form=

of a written message handed on by a third party.
5. You divulge the secret to those you trust.

Point 4. may be a loophole in the security. The note from DD was
not addressed to Harry specifically and Moody burnt it immediately 
after Harry had read it. The implication is that *anyone* reading that
paper becomes privy to the secret.

Conclusions that can be drawn from the text:
We are led to believe that only a short time had passed since the Potters
went into hiding, though this is a guesstimate based on inferences. 
No one (except Voldy) admits to being given the GH location by Peter.
This is difficult to credit and throws up all  sorts of difficulties when
trying to analyse GH and it's immediate aftermath. But if you take  4. 
above, then you can be told and not know the name of the Secret Keeper.
All you need is a scrap of paper with the address written by the Keeper 
himself.

So if the whisper was that Sirius was SK but that was changed to Peter,
no one would necessarily be aware of this if the secret was passed out to
those trusted by the Potters in written form. This would fit in neatly with=

Sirius's plan to be a decoy. The information could still be passed around
while Sirius stayed in hiding pretending to be the SK and hopefully the 
target for Voldy and the DEs.
 
Now, a bit of supposition:
Who would the Potters trust enough to be allowed into the magic circle?
Sirius
Peter
Lupin
Dumbledore
Possibly other members of the Order (Hagrid, the Longbottoms?).

The circle can be quite wide but only one person can admit anyone new - 
the Keeper. But it's possible that new admitees do not know who the SK is,
just as Harry did not know that DD is SK for GP when handed the paper
by Moody.

Conclusion:
*Anyone* the Potters trusted could have been at GH on the fateful night 
and not necessarily have known who the SK was.
Round up the usual suspects.
My bet is Lupin. 

Not  up to Hercule Poirot standards perhaps, but this line of thinking
can be  used to eliminate a lot of the apparent anomalies that the text
seems to present. The trouble is, it's just a theory; proof is thin on the
ground. On the positive side, there's no real proof for any other theory
about GH either. That do make it fun!

Kneasy