Secret keeping (was: Sirius revisted)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 105135

> Christina in GA wrote:
<snip>I think some did know where the Potters lived, possibly Sirius
> and DD and Lupin, maybe some trusted others. The information
wouldn't be forgotten. DD wrote the note about the headquarters of the
OotP, Harry read it, remembered it, then the note was destroyed. He
doesn't forget where the house is but he isn't the secret keeper so
even though he knows where the house is he can't tell anyone. Someone
else said that even if he had drank the tea Umbridge gave him - which
I immediately believed contained something - she would not have
understood what he was saying even if he told her the truth of the
location. <snip>

Carol:
In order to know where the Potters lived after Peter Pettigrew became
Secret Keeper, Sirius, Dumbledore, and Lupin would have to be told by
Peter himself, even if they knew it before. At least that's the way I
understand it. It's even possible that James and Lily had to be told
where they lived, though that seems to be taking it a bit far. (I
think Lily herself placed the charm on Peter. Dumbledore clearly
didn't, and who else would have had the skill?) Anyway, it *appears*
that Peter, trying to appear trustworthy, told Sirius and Dumbledore
(but not Lupin, whom he wanted them to suspect as the traitor) about
Godric's Hollow. Otherwise it's hard to understand how Sirius knew
where to go and Dumbledore knew where to send Hagrid after the Potters
were killed. (At that point, with the charm broken, he'd be able to
reveal the secret to Hagrid.) But Lupin, if he'd been in on the
secret, would also have shown up--and he didn't. So he must have
forgotten what he had once known when the secret was placed inside Peter.

Harry knowing the whereabouts of Order Headquarters but being unable
to reveal it isn't really the same thing, since he couldn't have known
the secret before it was revealed to him by DD on that scrap of paper.
As for something being in the tea that Umbridge gave Harry, we know
what was in it--fake veritaserum supplied by Snape to Umbridge, as DD
informs us near the end of OoP (another instance of Snape being on
Dumbledore's and Harry's side without Harry adequately appreciating
it). But you're right that even if real veritaserum forced Harry to
reveal that secret (and we don't know that it could), Umbridge
wouldn't have been able to do anything with that knowledge. I'm not
sure that's what she was looking for, in any case.

Carol (in AZ), resisting the temptation to look up that scene because
she's still behind on posting