[HPforGrownups] Re: Secret Keeper of Grimmaud Place

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 160523

Steve wrote:

> bboyminn:
> 
> Either your not seeing my whole point, or I'm missing part of
> yours.
> 
> Yes, anyone could bring anyone anywhere, but what is the
> point? True someone could have brought someone to Godrics
> Hollow, but what good would it do if the second someone
> still couldn't find the Potters? Yes, someone who knew the
> secret could have brought Voldemort to Godrics Hollow 
> while not revealing the secret to him, but Voldemort 
> still could not have found the Potters. 
> 
> DO VERY MUCH, keep in mind that we are not talking about
> someone and someone, we are talking about Harry and
> Neville. You don't risk the secret to people you don't
> trust, which implies that you only reveal it to people
> you DO trust. Someone could have lead Neville to Grimmauld
> Square and guided him inside Grimmauld Place. How does 
> that compromise security? Neville can't reveal the 
> location to anyone. Even if Neville is coerced into 
> leading someone to Grimmauld Square, he still can't 
> reveal the secret, and without the secret the house itself
> can't and won't be revealed. So, again where is the
> compromise of security? Leading Voldemort to Godrics 
> Hollow doesn't reveal the Potters, and Neville coerced
> into leading someone to Grimmauld Square doesn't reveal
> the Black House.
> 
> But back to the key point, you don't invite people into
> the house if you don't trust them. You don't grab random
> people of the street and say, 'Hey, want to see something
> neat?'. You don't track down Death Eaters, drag them to 
> the house and say, 'Check this out'.

   KJ writes:

    You do make some fine points, but all through the books we see that 
Harry and Ron are, for a while, Crabbe and Goyle.  Crabbe and Goyle were 
two girls.  Slughorn was a chair for Pete's sake.  JKR has made it clear 
that nobody can trust anybody. Trust is a huge issue in this series of 
books.  For that reason alone, one person's trust of another could not 
be sufficient reason to allow them access to 12 Grimmauld Place.

    We also see Moody fail to take Harry into Grimmauld Place before 
giving him the note.  Why would they all stand on the street in front of 
peoples' homes, reading a note, if they did not have to.  Moody could 
have taken Harry inside, presumably, as Harry can certainly be 
"trusted", but he did not.  He had to carry a note from Dumbledore to 
give to Harry. That implies that he could not bring Harry into the house 
himself.  Perhaps, it was because he was not the secret keeper, but 
neither is Harry at this point.  It seems to me that only the secret 
keeper can grant access to the people or place that is being protected, 
just as only Peter could allow Voldemort into the house by giving him 
the secret. I suspect that a new headquarters will have to be found to 
allow new members to join the OotP unless Dumbledore made someone else 
the secret keeper.

KJ