Fidelity of 12 GP :WAS: CHAPDISC3

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 142748

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "M. Thitathan" <h2so3f at y...> wrote:
>
> carol wrote: 
> "I think the place (12 Grimmauld Place) will be a bit less 
> forbidding .... At any rate, ...the house is presumably still 
> protected by the Fidelius Charm even with DD dead. ...." 
> ...<snip a ton>
> 
 
>  CH3ed now:
> 
> I'm just curious about the status of the fidelius charm on 12GP 
> since DD died. It seems to me the charm shouldn't life (live?) 
> just because the secret keeper dies or murdering the SK would 
> be the obvious way to break the charm. On the other hand, how 
> would Harry be able to tell other people (who hadn't been told 
> by DD) how to find his house? Harry isn't the SK. 

bboyminn:

I think part of the key to understanding this is to look at the
definition of 'charm'. A charm can be a spell, or it can be an object
that has been imbued with magical properties as in an amulet.

CHARM - 3. A small ornament, such as one worn on a bracelet. 4. An
item worn for its supposed magical benefit, as in warding off evil; an
amulet. 5. An action or formula thought to have magical power. 6. The
chanting of a magic word or verse; incantation

So, we know that certain objects are capable of retaining their
magical proterties independant of humans. Many protective amulets, for
example, have far outlived their creators.

The Black House has been given every anti-muggle protection know to
man, that makes the Black House a Charmed house independant of the
person placing the charm. The same is true of Hogwarts. Hogwarts
Castle and grounds are a /charmed object/ and the magic the has been
infused into them is permanent.

In other cases, charm magic is not permanent, but is dependant on
external factors. It's more like a spell applied to an object rather
than magic infused into the object. Since Dumbledore is the charmed
object, the Secret Keeper, that protects the Black House with the
Fidelius Charm, the existance of that protection very much hinges on
Dumbledore's presence and his being alive. So, I personally believe
that the Fidelius Charm was broken when Dumbledore died. 

However, many many other protective enchantments continue to protect
the Black House. Many of which I'm sure date back to the earliest
Black ancestors who lived there. The Black House was made unplottable,
just as Hogwarts is, that has to be a charm the lasts beyond the life
of the spell caster. To me, Unplottable is one of those spells that
infuses an object with a magical essense, an essense that, thereafter,
is contained within the charmed object for as long as the object last,
or until it is removed.

Charmed objects don't have to be an either/or situation; it is most
certainly a /both/ situation. Some spells and charms end when the
spellcaster ends (dies), other are infused into whatever has been
charmed and last as long as the object lasts.

In conclusion, that is consistent with the Fedelius Charm. Remember,
that it is Dumbledore that is the charmed object. He has been charmed
with the secret of the location of the Black House, the Fedelius Charm
has not been performed on the House itself. When the Charmed Object,
Dumbledore, is gone/dead, the charm is broken.

You heard it here first.

STeve/bboyminn