Hedwig & 12 Grimmauld Place

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 91165

Gandalf wrote:
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas how Hedwig was able to 
find 12 Grimmauld Place if it was hidden from Harry til he got there.  
Is the protection only against humans?

Sawsan:
Good question Gandalf. Unfortunately I don't have an answer, but I
have a second part to your question. If it is protection against
humans only, then what about the animagi? Could they just sneak in 
as well?
 
I think that since Hedwig belongs to Harry, that she is bound to 
him, I suppose. She always knows where he is, and being known to the 
Order, they perhaps have a way of letting her in. 
<snip>
As far as Grimauld Place is concerned, it seems that animals can see 
through all of the charms placed on a particular location by wizards, 
thereby making her able to tap on the window and be let in.  <snip>


Carol:
To begin with, I wonder how the owls can find the recipient of the
letter even if the sender doesn't know where he or she is (Sirius on
the run, for example). And can they read? Petunia's Howler actually
specifies that she's in the kitchen. (how did Dumbledore know she'd be
in the kitchen when the letter got there? And how did he or McGonagall
know that he'd been moved from the cupboard under the stairs to the
smallest bedroom?) But, as usual, I digress.

I think that owls are magical creatures and that somehow charms
created to fool humans have no effedt on them. Clearly they aren't
deterred by the Muggle-repelling charms that make Hogwarts invisible
to Muggles so maybe the Fidelius charm and various other protections
placed on Grimmauld Place have no effect on them.

As for getting inside, my brief experience with English life taught me
that, unlike us Americans, the British leave their windows wide open
with no screens to keep out flies--or birds. An animagus (Sirius as a
dog or McGonagall as a cat) could not fly in and would have to have
the door opened for him if he were in animal form. Why not just open
the door in his or her human form? IIRC, it's hidden but not locked.
(I don't know why Mundungus et al. ring the bell. It's just stupid.)
As for animagi knowing about Grimmauld Place, they'd have been given
the secret when they were in human form. That leaves Crookshanks, who
could probably find his way from Hogwarts to Grimmauld Place if he
chose to make such a long journey on foot (or hopping in the back of a
pickup truck--or whatever you call them in Britain), but he'd have to
find an open ground floor window to hop through or wander around
meowing loudly until someone heard him and opened the door. (Not that
I think Grimmauld Place has ground floor windows or that the Order
would open them if it did.

But Hedwig, unrepelled by protective charms and unfettered by having
to travel on foot, could just fly in through an upper-story window.
Even Errol could do it, though he'd choose to fly into a closed window
just because he's Errol.

Carol