DD and the rat (was:Re: Minerva McGonagall-/Dumbledore)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 115716


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tammy" 
<elsyee_h at y...> wrote:

> 
> I got the impression from what Prof. Flitwick says in Chapter 10 
of PoA that the SK had to willingly tell Voldemort the secret. To 
me, that means it can't be tortured out of someone, as that's not 
really willingly. Also, if you could torture a secret out of someone 
then it really would have been more logical that they would go 
with Black or Dumbledore, who would be more able to withstand 
the torture. It would make the whole charm pointless if the secret 
can be tortured out of someone. 
> 

Hmmm. We don't really know, do we? If the charm protected 
against torture and threats, I would have expected Sirius to say 
that, instead of saying that Peter must be lying because he'd 
already been spying for Voldemort for a year.

However, Peter doesn't say he was tortured, he only says that he 
was scared that Voldemort would kill him. I don't think the charm 
protects one from having to make that choice. Apparently Peter 
chose to live. 

If the charm only protected against magic, it would still be useful. 
The SK couldn't be forced to talk under Imperius or truth potions, 
nor the secret  read through legilimency or extracted by whatever 
means Dumbledore uses to pull thoughts from his head for the 
Pensieve.

Pippin