Secret Passageway Question

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 115229


JR wrote:
<snip> 
> In POA, Harry takes the secret passageway behind the humpback witch
that leads him into Hogsmeade. Now since it seems that Fred and 
George know about this because of the Mauraders Map, wouldn't it 
stand to reason that Wormtail also knows about this secret passage.
Why wouldn't he let the Death Eaters and Voldemort know. It would 
seem to me that this would be a fairly easy way to invade Hogwarts.  
> 
> Has this ever been addressed?  

Carol responds:
I think that Wormtail in his spy days kept as many secrets as he could
from Voldemort, who was chiefly concerned about Harry and would have
focused chiefly on the Potters' activities and whereabouts. Wormtail,
trying to fool himself into thinking that he was keeping faith with
both sides, could have concealed that three of the Marauders were
animagi and one a werewolf. Even with his legilimency, Voldemort would
not have been probing for those particular thoughts and memories. Nor
would he have cared about MWPP's activities at Hogwarts, including the
Marauder's map. In any case, Voldemort wasn't interested in getting
into Hogwarts at that time--James and Lily had already left and Harry
was an infant. The DEs, even those in his inner circle like Bellatrix,
would have known even less. Clearly the DEs in Azkaban didn't know
that Pettigrew was an animagus or they'd have figured out his trick in
framing Sirius Black, and they'd have even less reason than Voldemort
to know about the Marauder's map, which had nothing to do with the
Potters' whereabouts in the year or so before their deaths.

However, now that Wormtail is himself a DE rather than a mere spy (and
I think the point recently made that his Dark Mark in the graveyard
scene is red rather than black does indeed suggest that it's new), and
now that Voldemort, at least, is fully aware that the nickname
Wormtail has more than figurative significance, the little rat may
indeed reveal that he knows about secret passageways into Hogwarts.
(He won't know, of course, that the fourth-floor passage is blocked,
but Voldemort would probably send him in to scout the situation before
using any of the passages himself.)

So, while I think I understand why Wormtail's knowledge of the secret
passageways was never used in the past for an invasion into Hogwarts,
I do think that knowledge will come into play in Book 6 or 7. (Why
have the passages in the books if their only purpose is to allow Harry
to sneak into Hogsmeade--or Sirius to enter Ron's and Harry's dorm
room?) Voldemort's chief target, after all, is Harry, and Harry is at
Hogwarts (as is his other nemesis, Dumbledore). If I were Voldemort, I
would put world dominance on the back burner until I had insured my
immortality by killing "the one with the power to destroy the Dark
Lord" first. Once he kills Harry, the only person who can destroy him,
he'll have all the time in the world to wage VW2--which I think is why
we've seen so few murders and so little terror so far.

Carol

P.S. I don't envision a whole regiment of DEs entering Hogwarts via
the humpbacked witch, but how about Wormtail in rat form as a spy or
Voldemort himself backed by Dementors, with Harry as their target? C.