Godricks Hollow location and Secret Keeping business

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 148656

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Karen <kchuplis at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> On Wednesday, February 22, 2006, at 08:06 PM, Wendy wrote:
> 
> > With this new information about the secret keeper I was 
> > wondering if there will have to be a confrontation between
> > Harry and Wormtail in the beginning of book 7? How else will
> > Harry know how to find his parents house? Or because the house
> > was destroyed was the secret also?
> > Wendy
> >
> >
> kchuplis:
> 
> Can anyone please point me to where the *house* is not findable? 
> I am still not clear on why this is considered the case.
>

bboyminn:

Let's see if I can address this one issue. First, we don't know
whether the house or the graves will be visible or not, that's why we
are discussing it. We don't know for sure what the subject of the
Potter's Secret Keeper Charm was, or how the Charm was uniquely
constructed to protect them. We are speculating on the many
possibilities, and trying to come up with solutions that solve the
inconsistencies.

If the Potters themselves are the secret, then we should be able to
see their house and their graves. Only there bodies would be hidden;
bodies, but not the graves or the house. Just one problem, Harry is a
Potter and should therefore still be protected by the Secret Keeper
Charm, yet we can see him. That means that the Potters themselves were
probably not the subject of the secret.

So, if the location of the Potters was the secret, then the house
would certainly be hidden as long as the Potters were there. Again,
this has some problems; the books say that after the attack that
killed Lily and James, muggles and the Ministry came to the house to
investigate. As long as the Potters were they, no one, who didn't
already know the secret, should be able to find the house. This leans
away from the location being the secret. But as I have explained
above, the Potters themselves being the secret is also flawed.

Further, the Secret Keeper is still alive, and the location of the
Potters is now their graves. If the location is the secret, then no
one should be able to find or see the graves. Yet, if no one could
find the graves, how were they able to be buried there? 

It is possible that if the location house was the secret, then when
the house was destroyed, it no longer functionally served as a hiding
place, and that broke the charm making the house visible to everyone.
But then we are back to the graves again. The Potter currently reside
in their graves, so they should be hidden by the Charm. Further, Harry
Potter should still be covered by that protection and therefore be
hidden, which he is not. Now, it is possible that the 'location' of
the Potters, where ever that might be, was not the secret. Instead, it
was the Potters in residence at that one specific location that was
the secret. That solves some of the potential problem related to the
Secret Keeper Charm.

It is also possible that since the Potters died, there was no longer a
secret to keep, but again, Harry is a Potter and presumably part of
the secret, so he should be hidden by the charm were ever he is. 

The real problem is not knowing the exact nature and phrasing of the
Potters' Secret. The best I can come up with is that the secret was
specifically the Potters in residence at that one unique location.
When the Potters died and/or the house was destroyed, there was no
longer a secret to keep, and that nullified the Charm. Not a perfect
explanation, but it solves most of the problems.

So, I guess my point is that no one is saying that the house or the
graves with or will not be visible. We are looking at this new
information and trying resolve our knowledge of the books with this
information, and clear up inconsistencies. Speculation on the house or
graves not being visible is just a case of thinking out loud while we
try to understand and resolve the problems. 

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn