But DID James listen? (was LID!Snape rides again )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 150127

Carol earlier: 
> > Whether Snape's advice backfired or not, I can't see "the 
assumption that the SK was DE common knowledge" being the reason
offered for the SK change. 
> 
> PJ:
> I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here. If you all know
there's a spy among you and there's a war on, it would be logical to 
assume this person is working for Voldemort.  Why else would he/she be
there spying?  If Sirius and James chose Peter as SK then they
obviously had no idea he was the spy...
>
>
Carol again:

Naturally, as you say, Black would not have made the suggestion nor JP
accepted it if either suspected that Pettigrew was the spy, but that's
not what I'm saying. As I interpret the quoted phrase from your
earlierpost, you're saying that the DEs would have known about the
Fidelius Charm, or at least suspected its existence, but I don't think
that's the case. 

The DEs didn't know about the Prophecy, so in their view, the Potters
would have no more reason to hide than any other Order members, who
were being "picked off one at a time." Obviously, those who were
murdered on LV's orders had not been protected by Fidelius Charms. Why
not, if Fidelius Charms were a standard method of protection? And if
Fidelius Charms were routinefor people going into hiding, why did it
take DD so long to suggest one and why didn't the Potters think of it
themselves? They could have hidden themselves and their child as soon
as they realized that there was a spy in the Order instead of waiting
till DD suggested it. (Of course, they might have died a year earlier
if that were the case, but my point is simply that Fidelius Charms
don't appear to be commonly performed.)

Because the Charm was only in effect for a week and because the
DEsdidn'tknowabout the Prophecy, I doubt very much thatthe existence
of  a Secret Keeper was common knowledge among the Death Eaters, and,
that being the case, "DE common knowledge" couldn't be the reason for
the switch. 

We don't even know that the DEs knew there was a spy in the Order who
was reporting to LV. (Bella, who at that time seems to have been in
LV's confidence, may have known, but I think she was the exception.)
The whole point of being a spy is to keep your identity secret from as
many people as possible, and we know that theDEs didn't all know one
another'sidentities. And even if the DEs knew there was a spy
(butnotnecessarily his identity), there's no necessary connection
between the spy/traitor and the Secret Keeper. 

The spy had been giving info for about a year before the Potters
finally went into hiding; DD seems to have come up with the SK
suggestion only a short time before the Potters' deaths. If Pettigrew
was the only SK and Black being SK wasonly a suggestion that was never
acted upon, the Fidelius Charm was only in effect for a week. I don't
see how the existence of a Secret Keeper/Fidelius Charm could have
become common knowledge, or even a rumor, among the DEs or anyone else
in that short a time. I don't think that anyone other than the
Potters, Black, Pettigrew, DD, and possibly Snape and/or Lupin knew
about the Secret Keeper plan. IMO, it sexistence became common
knowledge only after DD's testimony that Black had been the Potters'
Secret Keeper was reported in the Daily Prophet. The Potters would
have had Pettigrew tell as few people as possible, probably only
Black, who may have been present to witness the charm (or acted as
"bonder" like Bella with the UV). Even the *existence* of the secret
would have been known only to Dumbledore and possibly Lupin (see
below) and Snape--until Pettigrew reported notonly the Charm but the
Secret itself to Voldemort.

My point is simply that knowing there was a spy and knowing there was
a Secret Keeper are two very different things, and I don't think that
"DE common knowledge" of the Fidelius Charm was the reason that Black
suggested the switch or that the Potters accepted it. (I'm not even
sure that the charm was in effect before Pettigrew became SK. Do we
have any canon showing that Black was ever the actual SK instead of
merely James Potter's candidate for the job? Were the Potters ever
actually protected by having a trustworthy SK?)

As for Black's motives in suggesting the switch, maybe he thought that
he could trick Lupin, the supposed spy, into telling Voldemort that
Black was the SK and send the DEs on a wild goose chase to bringBlack
in alive. There was no need for the charm to be commonly known or
suspected, only reported by the spy to the Dark Lord. And meanwhile,
the Potters would  be hidden, with no one suspecting little Peter of
holding such a big secret. Or so Black mistakenly thought.

Carol, ready to hit her spacebar with a Reductor curse but realizing
that a defective keyboard is better than none