Who knew that Peter was the Secret Keeper? (Was: After all this time...)

[Talisman]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Neri" <nkafkafi at ...> wrote:
>
> > Talisman wrote:
> Since the topic has re-emerged, I'll answer Neri's objection re: 
>If  the secret dies with the keeper, why wouldn't LV just make 
>people  his Hx SKs, and then kill them, thus insuring no one could 
>ever find the blasted things again: 
> Because you never know who's going to come back as a ghost, 
>that's  why.  <snip> 

> Neri: In such case, one wonders why did Voldy kill Bertha in GoF? 
>She could come back as a ghost and foil his plan. But maybe he 
>made sure her memory was completely destroyed before he killed 
>her? Hmm, a good point. Must remember to obliviate the Hx SKs 
>before you kill'em. 

Well now, if we have to factor in LVfs prudence--all bets are off. 
<g> 

It turns out that I left the door open to that.

Your actual post dealt with what VL *could* do, and I changed the 
subjunctive to *would,* which is a different kettle of fish.

>From 3717
>Neri: In fact, Voldy could use this effect to device the ultimate 
>Hx hiding place: put all his Horcruxes in a house, make someone 
>the SK, kill SK, Voila! No one would ever find his Hxs again. 

Keeping to the world of *could,* LV could axe his SKs, and Rowling 
could save the day with tattle-tale ghosts.

What LV *would* do is, to his remorse, not always even that bright.  

Of course, as I said regarding the other SK thread, this is all far 
a-field and just for *fun.*

Rowling has never worried about any of this minutia, and our 
discussions are only going to prove her wisdom in that regard.

As to memory wipes, well, ghosts do seem to turn up with the 
attributes their mortal selves exhibited at death, so perhaps a wipe 
charm would be effective against spectral recollection.  Then again, 
perhaps not. 

When Wormtail suggests that they could have modified Bertha's 
memory, instead of killing her, LV points out that *memory charms 
can be broken,* as, indeed,  he has just demonstrated. Can they be 
broken on a ghost, as well? Hmm.

Then, there is the question of whether an Obliviate can cause you to 
forget something that is nestled deep in your soul.  And there is a 
lot we don't know about the requirements for a Fidelius; somewhere 
in all that complicated wand waving we might find additional 
complications to LV's early retirement program. 

Naturally, all of this is beyond the outer edges of canon.

Turning to LV's actual behavior, there is reason to think his 
treatment of Bertha was not wholly guided by wisdom.  LV alternates 
his excuses for killing her between 1) it being necessitated by the 
damage she sustained during the memory extraction process, and 2) 
not wanting her to blab to the Ministry. 

Wormtail obviously thinks they should have done a little memory 
modification and let her skip back out of the woods.  

So which is it? Are her mind and body ruined? Or is she able to go 
back home and blab?

Did he have to be so rough to get the information?  Or was he just 
giddy to find a victim in his clutches again?

In any event, Bertha's disappearance *was* part of the evidence DD 
used to confirm LV's comeback.  Who knows, maybe Bertha's bewildered 
little ghost did stumble back to DD and whisper in his ear. 

It wouldn't have made any difference. DD not only knew about LV's 
plans, he facilitated them.  

 > Once you've shot your wad, SK-wise, it's out of your hands. You  
>can't decide to make another SK for the same secret, because you 
>can  no longer ever tell anyone, yourself. 

> Neri: Not exactly. If the secret is the house where the Hx was 
>hidden, and you have a reason to suspect that the SK (dead or not) 
>had blabbered, you just take the Hx out of this house and hide it 
>somewhere else, using another SK. 

Ah, yes.  I believe I had started thinking in terms of Hx 
identification at this point.  (Still, if you didn't hide all the 
Hxes in one basket, you might well have to include identifying 
specifics that each sequential SK ghost could retain.) 

But as to the whereabouts of the item, why would you relocate?  My 
premise is that you wouldn't be sure of a hostile SK.  Hey, maybe 
you *are* safe--why risk changing ghosts?  Then again, maybe you're 
not ...

The first *reason to suspect* you have might be an Auror with a wand 
pointed at your heart, laughing about how old Fuzziwig's ghost just 
helped her stomp all your little jam pots to bits.  

All that anxiety would wreck havoc with the DL's beauty sleep.

Speaking of which, can you imagine our flat-nosed friend all 
snuggled up with the covers tucked under his chin?  Just where do 
you supposed he does dare to close those glowing red eyes?

Talisman--who can suddenly hear a soft pillow and a warm blanket 
calling her name.....