The Droobles Blowing Gum Wrappers - Mystery Solved?

[tinglinger]

No: HPFGUIDX 126685


I finally figured out why Alice Longbottom is so fixated on
Droobles Blowing Gum Wrappers, and in doing so, found how 
Sirius probably screwed up big-time as the Potter's 
Secretkeeper.

There have been countless posts dealing with the Droobles
Gum Wrappers, with many novel theories and anagrams tossed
about to be chewed on and spit out, {so to speak}.

Here is my take on what the incident means and why it might
be important in explaining what happened at Godric's Hollow.

The Droobles Blowing Gum Wrapper itself isn't as important
as what most of us would do to a gum wrapper as compared to
what  Neville actually did with it.
Gum Wrappers are tossed away as if they have no value at
all (besides keeping gum off our shoes). 
Unfortunately, someone who was careless with a seemingly
unimportant piece of paper fifteen years before the visit to
St Mungos may have changed the course of history of the
Wizarding World.

What if Sirius as secretkeeper wrote the Potter's Hiding
Place down on paper and then DIDN'T PROPERLY DESTROY IT?
And what if Pettigrew found the paper and took it to
Voldemort, where its authenticity can be verified either
by Regulus Black or the Black family crest that appeared
on the paper?  Once Voldemort had the location, the Potters
were doomed.

I don't believe that Pettigrew was ever the Potter's 
Secretkeeper as everyone claims. I can't beleive that
Sirius would be that stupid given the low opinion everyone
has of the little rat. McGonagall went on a rant with Madame
Rosmerta as to how stupid and useless Pettigrew was. Why
would Sirius think that changing secretkeeper to Pettigrew
would work ? 

Pettigrew was always good at stealth and what better way 
f utilizing stealth than to steal a scrap of paper
carelessly handled or disposed of by Sirius? Rats do live
near bins, don't they? Sirius tosses the paper in the bin,
and Peter transfigures into a rat, goes into the bin, 
and voila! One rat with valuable information.

  
Before you dismiss this idea, there are three bits of canon
you should be aware of:

First, going back to POA, end of Chapter 13, we find that
Neville has caused Sir Cadugan to allow the then Killer!Black
into Gryffindor Tower because Neville left a piece of paper
 with a week's worth of paswords lying around. Neville's
carelessness with a scrap of paper put everyone in
Gryffindor in danger.

Second, in OOP, at the very end of Chapter 3, Moody gives
 Harry a piece of parchment with the instructions to 
"read quickly and memorize". Harry sees the location of the
Order written in a familiar hndwriting.
Then at the start of Chapter 4, Moody "pulled the piece
of parchment out of Harry's hand and set fire to it with
his wand tip.  ... the message curled into flames and
floated to the ground...".
Harry did not need the paper, merely the memory of its
contents, to enter 12 Grimaud Place. Was Moody being
paranoid? Or, was he being careful that noone else could
possibly see the message? 

Third, in OOP, at the end of Chapter 23, Neville's guarded
secret, which was a secret to all EXEPT FOR HARRY, was
exposed when HRH saw Neville leaving the closed ward with
his grandmother after visiting his parents.  While
Neville's grandmother tells HRH about Neville's parents,
she is interrupted by Neville's mom, holding something
in her outstretched hand. "..Neville had already stretched
out his hand, into which his mother dropped an empty 
Droobles Blowing Gum Wrapper."
Neville's grandmother says " ..Neville, put that wrapper
in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper
your bedroom by now ...."
However, Harry was sure that he saw Neville slip the wrapper
into his pocket.

Why would Neville do that? The first reference tells us the
consequences of being careless with important information
written on common objects. Neville has learned his lesson
and does not leave the gum wrapper lying around like 
he did before.

The second reference tells us how secret information is 
revealed to a non secretkeeper and how the information is 
properly disposed of afterwards. Though Moody is 
admittedly super-paranoid, he makes absolutely sure that
noone else can read the message. 

The third reference, links the first two  -  a gumwrapper,
an object seemingly unimportant, is held for safekeeping
until it can be properly disposed of  or taken to a
safe place. Anyone can get the wrapper out of a bin
once it was tossed there.... especially a rat.....


So i feel that 
Sirius Black never intended to tell Pettigrew where the
Potters were hidden.

When the hiding places were set up or shortly thereafter,
Sirius showed a certain piece of paper to the Longbottoms
(just like Moody showed Harry in OOP). Then Sirius got 
careless and didn't destroy the slip of paper revealing
the Potter's hiding place. Voldemort knew that it was 
authentic because either the paper was marked with the 
Black crest from a ring, or Regulus was able to
authenticate Sirius' handwriting.
This relieves Pettigrew from having any brains,
only treachery and the ability to dumpster dive.

So the Potters were done in by Sirius' carelessness and
Pettigrew's treachery. The lie that Pettigrew was made
secretkeeper was told to disguise the real guilty party -
 Sirius Black. 

This also ties in with the theory of Snape trying to warn
James but being rebuffed. He was there when Pettigrew
delivered the evidence and knew that the Potters were
in mortal danger and went to warn them, only to have James
laugh in his face (thanks for that idea, mooseming...).
It also explains Snape's tirade that Harry believed in
Black too much...


And additionally, how did the death eaters know where to
find the Longbottoms? Dumbledore KNEW that both boys
were threatened. Why hide one using a secretkeeper
and not the other ? 
It would seem that the Longbottoms had a secret keeper
too. Did they trust Sirius with that huge responsibility
too? Or did they show Sirius a similar piece of paper
revealing their hiding place that was not properly 
disposed of? I wonder...

Little bits of paper are very important - even bubble 
gum wrappers. Something here for everyone to chew on......


Tinglinger
who has recently created a yahoo group for theories
and plotlines for the Harry Potter series which you
are welcome to check out at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/potterplots