Godrics Hollow - What was the Secret?

[terryljames76]

No: HPFGUIDX 118016


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mhbobbin" <mhbobbin at y...> 
wrote:
> Uh-oh. If it was Harry as well, then we are back to the original 
> question. Why is Harry suddenly no longer covered by the Fidelius 
> Charm, allowing Hagrid to find him without having information 
> directly from the Secret Keeper.
> 
> Mhbobbin

Firstly, my apologies if I'm repeating something that's been covered 
many times on here; I've been off the list for months and months now, 
and have completely lost track of everything.  My reasoning may be 
way off; if so, I'm sure someone will kindly correct me.  :)

That said, here's my take on the Secret Keeper issue.  I have seen a 
lot of questions such as "How did Dumbledore know to send Hagrid to 
Godric's Hollow?" and "How did Sirius know to go to GH?" and then the 
one above, "Why is Harry suddenly no longer covered by the Fidelius 
charm?" (if he ever was).  The assumption seems to be that no matter 
what, a person has to be directly told, by the Secret Keeper, to have 
the knowledge.  That would be true, by my reading of canon, ONLY as 
long as the Fidelius charm remains intact. 

I've always thought that the secret remains intact only so long as 
the Secret Keeper does not reveal it--and this is the important part--
*to someone whom it is supposed to be a secret from*.  For example, 
let's say I am planning a surprise birthday party for my husband.  
It's a secret from him.  I can tell any of our friends whom I trust 
enough not to pass along the secret, and it is still a secret from 
him.  It only ceases to be a secret when HE actually finds out.

Along the same reasoning, in OOTP Dumbledore can tell Harry the 
location of 12 Grimmauld Place, just as he can tell the Order 
members, but it's still a secret.  If, however, Dumbledore were to 
tell one of the Death Eaters the location, it would no longer be 
a "secret".  I believe that under the magical rules of this spell, at 
that point the spell would be broken and whoever formerly knew would 
have the knowledge back.  

Therefore, the minute that Pettigrew went to Voldemort and told him 
where the Potters were--at that moment, the Fidelius charm was 
broken.  Peter had NOT been "faithful", he had betrayed the secret to 
the person who was most of all NOT supposed to have it.  Everyone who 
formerly knew where the Potters were, and had had the knowledge 
somehow removed or concealed through the Fidelius charm, suddenly 
remembered where they were and how to find them, and thus were 
alerted to the fact that something was wrong.  

Dumbledore realized that he now knew where the Potters were, and 
believing that Sirius was the Secret Keeper, also believed that 
Sirius had either turned traitor or had been tortured into revealing 
the secret; either way, he'd ask Hagrid if there had been "any 
trouble" with Sirius, not wanting to reveal too much about what 
he "knew".  He knew immediately to send Hagrid to Godric's Hollow to 
find out what had happened. 

Sirius realized that he now knew where the Potters were, and realized 
immediately that since no one else knew that Peter was the Secret 
Keeper and therefore no one would be torturing Peter, then Peter must 
have given up the information voluntarily.  He rushed straight to 
Godric's Hollow, and finding out that he was too late there, rushed 
straight out to find Peter, without stopping to explain anything to 
anyone. 

To me, this explains how everyone concerned knew as much as they did, 
when they did.

I've also seen the question raised more than once (and sorry for not 
replying directly to it, but I'm trying to cram everything into one 
post) about why did Sirius, who boasted about being so strong and 
able to resist torture, want to make Peter the Secret Keeper, when he 
obviously thought that Peter was too weak to resist the DEs?

Every time this question has come up, it has confused me. It seems 
fairly clear (to me) that Sirius never intended for Peter to be 
targeted or tortured at all.  If they told no one about the Secret 
Keeper switch, then any Death Eaters who found out about the plan at 
all would only know that Sirius was the intended Secret Keeper, and 
they would come after him.  They could torture him all they wanted, 
and he would not be able to reveal the location, because he *didn't 
know it*.  Meanwhile, Peter and the location would be safe, because 
in Sirius' opinion, no one would consider that he would ever be 
chosen as the Secret Keeper and therefore no one would ever bother 
him.  

Of course, the flaw in all this seems to be something that Sirius 
never considered: that while he could not be made to reveal something 
he didn't know, he *could* be made to reveal something he *did* know; 
namely, that he was not in fact the Secret Keeper, and who *was*.  So 
the whole plan would in the end be a big delaying tactic.  But either 
that did not occur to Sirius, or he had such a high opinion of 
himself that he thought he would be able to resist telling this, 
especially if the DEs (who do not seem to be rocket scientists) never 
thought of asking.

OK, those are my thoughts.  Fire away!  *returns to bunker deep deep 
underground*