Voldemort to Vapormort - How Did They Know?

[Len Jaffe]

No: HPFGUIDX 150426

> Len:
> I totally agree.  Somebody had to be there [at GH] 
> with him, and I think it was Pettigrew.  
>    
>   Catherine <saberbunny at yahoo.ca>:
>   But how does Dumbledore know? Did Peter go
> straight to Dumbledore to tell him that Sirius had
> betrayed the Potters? Did Dumbledore also have a spy
> or someone looking out for the Potters? If anyone
> else knoew about their hideout, then it would have
> been Peter revealing the secret, and then everyone
> would know that he was the SK. 

Good question.  

We know that things happen that are not described in
the books. By that I mean we don't get a day-by-day,
minute by minute catalog of Harry's life. So things
happen that are not talked about because they don't 
further the plot at hand.  So all of the double 
dealing and plotting, and spying that went on happened, 
but we don't apparently need to know much about it, or
else it would have been worked in already.

We don't know that DD knows that there was a betrayal.
Do we?

The whole subject is fraught with contradictions.
If DD knew about the secret keeper switch, and
Peter's betrayal, then why was Sirius still sent to
Azkaban?

If he didn't, and still thought Sirius was the secret
keeper, why are he and Hagrid bantering about Sirius'
motorcycle in SS?

What kind of pandemonium is going on in GH with the
dark mark above the house and dead bodies in the
house, and Hagrid appearing with a flying motorcycle 
and carting a 1-yo kid away.  Were there ministry
personnel present, or just confused/terrified
neighbors?  Or was the house in GH secluded?

But, I may have failed to answer your question.
As I understand the whole secret keeper thing, the 
secret is not so much private, as protected from 
spread.  All of the member of the Order know where 
#12 GP is, but only because the secret keeper told
them.  The charm prevents them from sharing the
knowledge that it is the HQ.

For that matter, how does anybody know that LV is
vanquished?  We're never told that they found his 
old body in GH.  But that may have been the reason
they knew.

Len.

Leonard A. Jaffe     lenjaffe at jaffesystems.com
Leonard Jaffe Computer Systems Consulting Ltd.
Columbus, OH, USA 614-404-4214 F: 530-380-7423