Secret Keepers/JKR Poll Question

[lolita_ns]

No: HPFGUIDX 148568

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "spotsgal" <Nanagose at ...> wrote:
> 
> And I still wonder what happens to a secret if the secret itself
> dies...that is, did the charm on the Potters break when *they* died
> (although Harry was still alive)?  Or if the charm was more on the
> house, did it break when the house was destroyed?
> 
> Christina


Lolita:

I think that the only way Rowling's answer could correspond to what 
we've been told in the books would be for the charm to have been upon 
the house, which is probably why PP destroyed it (if it indeed was 
him who did it, as I believe it was) in the first place. Otherwise, 
there is simply no way for DD to have been able to send Hagrid to GH, 
and for Hagrid (and the Muggles, and the MoM) to find it, had the 
secret not been revealed to them by its Keeper. And PP didn't tell 
them, for they would then know that it wasn't Sirius who was the 
Secret Keeper. I think that we can be *absolutely* sure that DD 
didn't know that the true Secret Keeper was PP, because he would have 
never ever let Sirius stay in Azkaban for 12 years had he known (and 
why didn't he ever, during all those years, request to see him in 
prison and try to see what had realy happened back in 1981 is a thing 
I don't understand. He was the head of the Wizengamot, he would have 
been granted his request in no time. Had he simply decided to leave 
Black to his fate? Black was sent to Azkaban without a trial, after 
all. It would have only been fair to let him tell his side of the 
story. Or, to read it from his mind, if you're as skilled a 
Legilimens as DD was.) 

So. PP tells the secret to LV (or has it pried out of him via 
Legilimency), LV goes, kills part of the family protected by it, but 
then he botches everything by trying to kill Harry too, and as a 
result, he is gone. PP then pockets his wand, destroys the house, 
transforms (presumably) into a rat and departs. DD learns that LV is 
no more, probably, as Red Hen believes, from SS who informs him that 
his Dark Mark is gone. He then sends Hagrid to GH to find Harry (Or 
did he send him there just to see what had happened? Did DD know that 
Harry had survived? If so, *how* could he have known? Only because of 
the Prophecy and the fact that - as DD interpreted it - if LV 
had 'died', then Harry must have stayed alive?). The question is how 
he knew where to send Hagrid, if he himself hadn't been in the Secret 
(and, as I stated above, he definitely hadn't been, or he would have 
known that the true SK was PP), and, from what Rowling said, he 
wouldn't have been able to tell Hagrid even if he had known, for it 
is only the SK who can reveal the location. (And we know that PP 
didn't tell Hagrid either, because Hagrid believed that Sirius was a 
traitorous bastard who betrayed his friends up to some point after 
PoA). How was Hagrid able to find GH? The charm had to have been upon 
the house. It couldn't have been on the family, because Harry was 
still alive at the time. 

BTW, DD most probably sent Hagrid there because he didn't want any 
magic to be performed in GH before he could go there and check the 
situation (what sort of magic LV used and the like). After all, if 
you need sb who can searcr through the rumbles without magic, your 
best choice in undoubtedly Hagrid. And DD couldn't have gone himself, 
because he had to prepare everything for Harry's stay at the 
Dursleys' (invoke the magic needed for that, etc.) - for Harry's 
safety was his absolute priority (although, leaving him on their 
doorstep in the middle of the night without anyone to watch over him 
until the Dursleys take him wasn't very cautious. Remember that the 
magic contract invoked to protect Harry was signed with Petunia's 
taking him in - and she only discovered him on her doorstep in the 
morning!)

When I think about it, another thing that confuses me is the fact 
that Sirius wasn't surprised to see Hagrid among the ruins of the 
house (he was shocked, of course, but still). Wasn't he the least bit 
suspicious that Hagrid had been able to find the house? I repeat, *no 
one* but PP, Sirius and the Potters knew of the switch, so, in order 
for Hagrid to be able to find the house, the Secret had to have been 
revelaed to him by the SK. And it hadn't been, for he honestly 
believed that Sirius had been the SK... Questions, questions....

Maybe there was some magic interwoven in the act of destroying the 
house that enabled PP to free himself of the secret, without arousing 
suspicion? Something like, 'I shout to the world this and this 
secret, bla bla bla'? Maybe *that* is why Moody prevented Harry from 
reading the information on the HQ of the Order out loud? (Although, 
as Harry wasn't the SK, I don't really understand how his reading the 
info outloud would have been of any help to possible spies around...)

Anyway, I should probably stop here, as this post is turning out to 
be rather long... 

Cheers,
Lolita :)