Godric's Hollow and the Fidelius

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 176841

jme wrote:
> <snip>   
> >   And so I am left with the question, what about Godric's Hollow? 
> If Peter Pettigrew as the Secret-Keeper, how was it possible that 
> Hermione and Harry was able to see the ruins of the cottage? For 
> that matter, how were the "tourists" able to see the cottage and 
> leave those messages? Pettigrew was still alive, so it stands to 
> reason, the Potter Place at Godric's Hollow should still be 
> unplottable right?
> <snip>
> 
> Dondee:
> 
> The way I understand it, James and Lily's FC was broken when they 
died because the charm was on them and not Godric's Hollow.
<snip>

Carol responds:

Actually, JKR answers this question in DH. Harry speculates (wrongly)
that the Fidelius Charm was broken when his parents died, but
Voldemort's flashback to the murder of the Potters indicates
otherwise: ". . . and now his destination was in sight, the Fidelius
charm *broken,* though [the Potters] did not know it yet" (DH Am. ed.
  343, my italics). Voldemort can see the Potters in their sitting
room, all three of them, whereas if the spell were still in effect, he
could press his nose against the window of the cottage where they were
hiding and still be unable to see them, as Flitwick explains to
Rosmerta (PoA Am. ed. 205).

How could the spell already be broken, even before the Potters were
killed and their home partially destroyed? Clearly, IMO, because
Wormtail has broken the charm by revealing the secret placed in him to
the very person from whom the Potters were hiding: Voldemort. As
Dumbledore tells Snape, they "put their *faith* in the wrong person"
(DH 678, my italics). "Fidelius"  is the neuter singular nominative
form of the adjective "fidelis" meaning faithful. (Compare
"fidelitas," = fidelity or faithfulness.) 

Quite simply, a Fidelius Charm is a Faithfulness Charm, dependent on
the SK's keeping faith with the people he is protecting, being worthy
of their faith in him, their trust. Wormtail has broken the Fidelius
Charm by breaking faith with the Potters. The fact that he is alive
has nothing to do with whether the charm is still in effect. It's been
broken since at least October 31, 1981, perhaps a few days earlier. 

The cottage itself was never protected by the spell, only the Potters,
who were invisible to those who didn't know the Secret as long as they
remained inside, in contrast to the spell on 12 GP, where the Secret
is the location of the *headquarters* of the Order of the Phoenix,
which means that the building itself is invisible to those who don't
know the secret. The Fidelius charm on 12 GP, though diluted by the
number of Secret keepers after DD's death, is still in place (at least
until Hermione accidentally reveals it to Yaxley) because no one
(including Snape) has revealed the secret to Voldemort or the loyal DEs.

As an aside, I suspect that both the cottage in Godric's Hollow and 12
GP had Muggle-repelling charms placed on them which are still in
effect regardless of whether the Fidelius Charm is broken. That's how
Harry knows that "Bathilda" isn't a Muggle. (Too bad he can't tell
that she's an Inferius, or a body possessed by a demon snake. I'm not
quite sure what's going on there.)

Carol, happy to see the focus shifting to the middle of the book and
hoping that we'll find more to say about those neglected chapters