Fidelius Charm - Godric's Hollow Destroyed

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 158314


> Carol responds:
> 
> I agree that the only person that PP told about the Godric's Hollow
> location was LV. I think he led LV there himself and then hid in 
rat
> form, afterwards retrieving and hiding the wand.

wynnleaf
I've been following all these discussions since the NAQ appeared on 
JKR's website yesterday.  This post of yours, Carol, made many 
excellent points.  

However, I do think there's a big problem to be dealt with regarding 
who was actually in the house at GH the night the Potters were 
killed.  Somehow, Dumbledore *knew* that Lily was offered a choice 
to live and decided to attempt to protect Harry instead.  Dumbledore 
knew this even in PS/SS when he makes it clear that he knew it was 
*Lily's* love that protected Harry, not just the general love of 
both his parents who both died protecting him.  

Therefore someone passed along to Dumbledore the events of that 
night.  I think speculation that DD was informed via a portrait in 
the house or a mirror is far too mundane an explanation, and has no 
reason for being kept from readers for 6 books.  So some person knew 
what happened and told Dumbledore.

OR Another explanation would follow all of your suggestions below:

> I think that Dumbledore woke up knowing where the Potters had been
> hiding (quite possibly he owned the house and had lent it to them 
in
> the first place) and realized that they must be dead or he wouldn't
> know the secret. And I think that Snape woke up with his Dark Mark
> burning and then watched in astonishment as it nearly vanished, 
then
> ran up eight flights of stairs to tell Dumbledore, who would have 
been
> consulting his mysterious instruments. Together they arrived at the
> conclusion that James and Lily were dead but Harry had somehow
> thwarted Voldemort.

wynnleaf
And so on with the rest of your theory.  Except that suppose at this 
point Dumbledore really wanted to know what happened.  Why was Harry 
alive?  What happened to Voldemort?  Supposed Dumbledore and someone 
else (perhaps Snape), used a timeturner (wild theory, I know), to go 
back into the night and watch what happened.  Both would have to be 
invisible and would not interfere with the outcome.  They could 
possibly circumvent the Fidelius Charm, since DD and companion 
(Snape?) would know the location of the house from their real time 
knowledge.

Regarding the Fidelius Charm, what happened to 12 Grimmauld Place 
right after Sirius died?  I know that the Order moved out 
temporarily, but as I recall, the issue was not one of the Fidelius 
Charm, but one of ownership.  If the Fidelius Charm had needed to be 
re-done, wouldn't Harry (as the new owner) need to know?  My point 
is that it seemed to me that the Fidelius Charm on Grimmauld Place 
did not fail at Sirius' death.  If that's the case, then the one on 
Godrics Hollow should not have ended simply because the Potters 
died, when the Secret Keeper was still alive.  Yet Hagrid at least 
got inside the house.

> For reasons I've stated elsewhere, I don't think that Snape was at
> Godric's Hollow or that he knew the location. Had Pettigrew told 
him
> the secret, which is extremely unlikely, he would have told 
Dumbledore
> who the Secret Keeper was

wynnleaf
I agree that Snape definitely thought Sirius was the Secret Keeper.  
If not, he was a magnificent impromptu actor in the Shrieking Shack 
in POA.  However -- here's another wild theory -- suppose Sirius and 
Peter, in an attempt to make the ruse of the switched Secret Keeper 
seem real, polyjuiced Peter into Sirius to pass along the Secret to 
whoever needed to know?  Just a wild theory, I know, except that it 
would help explain why even those closest to Sirius thought he was 
definitely the Secret Keeper.  The other idea of course is the note 
theory.  After all, if Harry could learn a Fidelius Charm secret 
through a note from Dumbledore, couldn't Peter pass along the secret 
through a note that could be shared around on a need-to-know basis?  
Do we know, after all, that he'd have to sign it for it to work?  We 
may assume this, but it is not definite canon.


> Carol, still sure that the only person at GH besides the Potters 
and
> LV was a rat named Peter, hiding in the shrubbery (or whatever) and
> invisible to the Potters

wynnleaf
So how do you think DD knew that Lily was given a choice to live?  
After all, he seems to have known this even in Harry's first year.