Secret Keepers/JKR Poll Question - Confussion

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 148638

> Christina:
> > (which JKR's explanation on the death of the SK
> > doesn't touch on): if the secret is that "the headquarters of the
> > Order of the Phoenix is at 12GP," then why can't Harry see the 
> > house? After all, the secret isn't that "Number 12, Grimmauld 
> > Place exists."  And what of the people that knew the location of 
> > the house before the secret was sealed?  For example, Bellatrix. 
> > It would seem odd to one day know where your cousins lived as 
> > children, and the next day to "forget" this information.

> kchuplis:
> 
> OK, maybe I'm just simple, but I just assumed it was one of the 
> umpteen billion unplottable unknowable security measures Sirius' dad
> put on the place. I never directly connected this to the "Secret 
> Keeping". Is there some off page canon (read: interview) that says 
> it is? I thought it was curious everyone expected Godric's Hollow to
> be invisible. I just have never read anything that made me think 
> that.


Christina again:

This is what I thought too, for the longest time!  It is the cleanest
explanation.  I mean, Mr. Black was super-paranoid, apparently, and
they lived on a Muggle street.  Flitwick's comments make it seem
reasonable that a house under Fidelius can still be seen.  AND it
solves the puzzle of people who have prior knowledge of the house -
like Bellatrix and Narcissa - who could still be able to visit the
house, but who would find it empty.  It also enables Muggle
authorities to visit GH after the explosion (Does canon talk about
covering up the destruction of the house for Muggles?  I can't remember).

...BUT, I started to doubt this view when we started chatting about
the Fidelius Charm a while ago.  I'll do you one better than an
interview - here's the actual canon for the part where 12GP springs to
life for Harry:

(OOTP, Scholastic, page 59)
They were standing outside number eleven; he looked to the left and
saw number ten; to the right, however, was number thirteen.

"But where's --?"

"Think about what you just memorized," said Lupin quietly.

Harry thought, and no sooner had he reached the part about number
twelve, Grimmauld Place, than a battered door emerged out of nowhere
between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls
and grimy windows.  It was as though an extra house had inflated,
pushing those on either side out of its way.
(end quote)

It is only after Harry has absorbed the secret that he is able to see
12GP.  His knowledge of the secret is the only thing that changes
between the time he can't see 12GP, and when he can.  When Harry
remarks that he can't see the house, Lupin directs him to think about
the *secret*.  In my mind, JKR makes it quite clear that it's the
Fidelius that keeps Harry from seeing the house, and not an
enchantment of Mr. Black's.

I don't know.  Maybe you're still right, and this is JKR trying for
some dramatic effect :)  It's an odd mistake though, if isn't
something to do with the Fidelius Charm.


Christina