Dumbledore's Past & Harry finding Godric's Hollow

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 167879

Jen wrote:

> A will strikes me as good way to bring together a few plot elements
because, like you, I believe Dumbledore and Aberforth will prove to be
the last of the Gryffindor line.  <sip>

> Which reminds me, I've been wondering how Harry will find Godric's
Hollow?  The rules of Apparition don't make it clear how much you need
to know about your destination to get there.  Is it enough for Harry
to think 'Godric's Hollow' and concentrate on the thought to make it
to the right place?
<snip>
> 
> All the people who could take Harry to Godric's Hollow are dead or
on the other side with the exception of Hagrid, and we don't know how
he got to GH since he can't Apparate.  I've assumed Dumbledore had a
hand in getting him there and Hagrid might not remember exactly how he
made it.  It sounds like Lupin didn't know the hiding place since the
Marauders suspected he was the spy at that point.  I'm thinking now
that Aberforth being connected to Godric's Hollow might have more uses
than just historical information about Dumbledore and/or Godric
Gryffindor.
> 
> Of course, all this musing is for nothing if Harry only has to
concentrate on the name 'Godric's Hollow' and he can apparate there by
himself.

Carol responds:
I'm not sure about the rules of Apparition, but neither Narcissa in
"Spinner's End" nor Dumbledore in "The Cave" Apparated to their exact
destination. I think Harry would merely need to find the village of
Godric's Hollow on a map and then wander around until he found the
exact location of the ruins of the Potters' cottage.

I'm not so sure, though, that the only living people who know the
exact location, aside from Hagrid (who may be able to Apparate since
he disappears from Platform 9 3/4 in SS/PS), are bad guys. The Secret
is no longer in effect and the cottage itself was never hidden, only
the location of the Potters. If the cottage belonged to Albus
Dumbledore and he gave or lent it to the Potters as a hiding place,
they could have been hiding there for months before the danger
intensified to the point where DD thought they needed a Fidelius
Charm. He could have visited them there himself to make the
suggestion, and the moment he "forgot" where they were hiding, he
would know that the charm was in place. 

Something similar may have happened to Lupin, who could have been
informed by DD as a member of the Order that a Fidelius Charm was in
place and that the Potters had chosen Black as their SK. But Lupin,
too, even if he had visited the Potters at GH earlier, would no longer
know the location thanks to the Fidelius Charm (if it works as I think
it works). The only people who know where the Potters are hidden once
the charm has been cast would be those who were told by the SK
himself; surely that includes people who knew the hiding place before
the charm was cast or there would be no point in casting it. The
moment the spell was broken, both DD and Lupin would "remember" where
the Potters had been hiding, but by then it would be too late to help
them. If I'm right, then Lupin can help them find the ruins of the
cottage, and I can see his wanting to go with them to pay his respects
to the Potters. (Even ESE!Lupin might want to go with them, right,
Pippin?)

Carol, who agrees that the cottage and surrounding property at
Godric's Hollow belonged to Albus Dumbledore and, though ruined,
probably belong now to Aberforth as DD's heir and the last Heir of
Gryffindor