This Snape hater accepts Snape is good-ish

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 138033

--- Hagrid <aussie_lol at y...> wrote:
> If Snape is a full DE, Snape will tell LV of the hunt for 
> Horcruxes now. 
> 
> If that happens, alarms would be set at each site to kill 
> Harry ... or they will be hidden more thoroughly than they 
> have for the last 50 years. 

I'm not sure how critical it is that Voldemort be kept in the dark
about Harry's little quest.  Certainly at the margins it would be
preferable to keep it quiet for as long as possible: Voldemort could
set traps for Harry or try to misdirect him; Voldemort could increase
fortifications....

But, if you consider Voldemort's character, it seems likely that he
has already done his level best to hide and fortify the horcruxes. 
Immortality was his principal goal in life for decades -- from when he
left school 50 years before the events of the books to when he
returned to "public life" perhaps 30 years later.  And he's not the
type to do a job halfway.  

So what can he do to thwart Harry?  Voldemort can't keep the horcruxes
(other than Nagini) with him.  Doing so would defeat the whole purpose
of the endeavor, which is to make the horcruxes inaccessible to anyone
who comes after Voldemort.  Ditto for trying to defend them personally.  

He could move them, but he presumably has already used the best hiding
places available to him.  

Voldemort will not want to send Death Eaters to guard the horcruxes
because he fundamentally does not trust them (and with good reason,
viz. R.A.B.).  Sending Death Eaters to shore up the fortifications has
the same problem: it risks one of them finding out what is being
hidden and using it as leverage.  

Is it possible that the hunt will remain secret much longer anyway? 
How long will Voldemort resist the temptation to tune into
Webcam!Harry?  (Thanks to Kathy for that image.)  As someone else
(apologies, I forget who) has posted recently, Harry's best hope is
that Voldemort will underestimate him.  A 16-year-old Hogwarts dropout
does not, after all, seem terribly likely to overcome thirty years of
hard work by The Greatest Wizard In The World.  (And, by the way, if
Snape is indeed working for Voldemort, we can be sure that he will not
be building up the Dark Lord's respect for Harry's talents.)

It seems to me that this may be the very reason that Dumbledore urges
Harry to keep his mission secret.  If the Ministry knew of the task
and took it seriously, they would throw hundreds of apparently
competent wizards at it; Voldemort might well feel threatened enough
to do something about that.  But so long as it is just Harry, perhaps
Voldemort will stand pat, secure that he will manage to confront Harry
long before he could possibly do away with all the horcruxes.

-- Matt