Fidelius charm and Tabooing the name

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 174008

Wendy:
> I have a question about how exactly the Fidelius Charm works. I
think I understand the basics but I wonder how powerful it is. The
trio are found on Tottenhan Court Road because they say Voldemort's
name. In number 12 they use his name twice and the Fidelius Charm
isn't broken. There seem to be Death Eaters that arrive a day or so
later that sit outside and watch, but no one is able to see Grimmauld
Place. So is the taboo not strong enough to break the charm or does
the Fidelius Charm work that well? 
> 
> I don't know what other kinds of spells people are using to keep
themselves safe but they seemed like they broke quite easily when
Voldemort's name was used. 

Bex:
Wow, Wendy, good eyes!!

I completely forgot about that - the Taboo was in place when they went
to #12 - which is how the DEs found them.

I think the FC completely covers the Taboo.
It seems to have taken the DEs (letssee here, that night, plus the day
Kreacher confessed, plus the next day, plus the day after that) 3.5
days to track them down. (Granted, JK doesn't say what day they showed
up - but the language suggests two whole days after Kreacher left.)

Possibly, the Taboo alerted the ministry to the closest they could get
to #12 (the street), but they couldn't find where the signal was
coming from (obviously not the houses next door). I suppose that
someone might have checked the signal, then started sniffing around
for magic charms, then determined that the FC was in place, and made
the connection that Harry Potter owned the house. All they could do
was wait out the occupants.

That seems far fetched. 

If the FC completely nullified the Taboo, then no one would have been
alerted to the Trio in the house. The DEs did some homework and
started looking everywhere for Harry. Someone (Trixie, maybe)
mentioned #12, since Harry owns the place, and it was still under the
FC protection, so they'd have to wait it out (since Snapey-poo
couldn't tell them the secret - or pretended he couldn't tell them).


I think complete nullification explains the time lapse the best.

As for the Trio's protections, I think the FC requires the protected
to stay in the same place - defninitely not for those on a hunting
mission. The Taboo disrupts a larger scale charm - somehting that
could "forcefield" that charm away form you (effectively creating a
bubble around you) may be difficult to create at best - we know form
POA that the FC is a very difficult charm to cast.

Good catch!
~Bex