Order Headquarters

[Freeman, Louise Margaret]

No: HPFGUIDX 91543

Carol:
>>Since Kreacher is
apparently bound to remain in the house of the family he served until
the last member is dead (or has chosen to do so out of loyalty to his
old mistress), and Kreacher is revealing secrets about Sirius, it
would be obvious to the Malfoys that Sirius is also at 12 Grimmauld
Place. Since they also know (I'm not sure how) that Sirius is in the
Order, it wouldn't take much to figure out that 12 Grimmauld Place is
also the Headquarters of the Order.<<

I thought I remembered an early description of the charm that said something 
like "Voldemort could have looked right through the Potters' window and not 
known they were there." So it is entirely possible that the DE Black 
relatives have staked out #12 Grimmauld any number of times, but never seen 
anything, and therefore given up on that approach. (or turned their 
attention towards finding the secret-keeper, as Voldemort apparently did 
when hunting Harry's parents.) Perhaps, even if they found a way in, they 
would be deluded into believing there was no one there. (Hmm...  could the 
Order ambush them while they were tromping through the "empty" house?)

I have assumed the Fidelius Charm would protect against *any* clue that 
could give away the secret... after all, it does you little good to hide 
your address if your enemy can see you going to and from or intercept an owl 
addressed to you.  In fact, I think that charm might have been the reason 
Umbridge "missed" Sirius the first time she caught him in the fire...  most 
of him was still at the secret location which the charm prevented her from 
knowing.

It would be very interesting to see what would happen if a non-secret keeper 
*did* try to give the information to someone; for instance if Harry tried to 
tell Neville, "The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters is at #12 Grimmauld 
Place" To my recollection, we haven't seen anyone attempt such a thing. 
Would Harry be struck dumb if he tried to speak it? Have the quill not work 
if he tried to write it? Would Neville be rendered incapable of 
understanding the words? Or would something more insidious happen, 
incapacitating or even killing teller or hearer?

For that matter, would the outsider even be prevented from knowing that 
there IS a protected Secret?  Could Neville be told by Harry "I have some 
information that I can't give you because of the Fidelius Charm?"  That 
alone might be helpful information to an enemy.  Furthermore, can someone in 
on the secret tell an outsider who the secret keeper is or is that also 
protected information? Was Harry told that Dumbledore was the Order's secret 
keeper before or after he read the note with the address?

Louise, who thinks this darn Fidelius charm complicates things as much as 
the Time-Turner.