Skip to main content

fidelius charm - Why wasn't James Potter his own Secret Keeper?


Why wasn't James Potter his own Secret Keeper?


The whole thing came about because Potters chose the wrong Secret Keeper (who betrayed them) for the Fidelius Charm on their house.


Why didn't James just make himself a Secret Keeper?


We know that it’s possible from Deathly Hallows: (Bill and Arthur Weasley are their own Secret Keepers).



“I’ve been getting them all out of the Burrow,” Bill explained. “Moved them to Muriel’s. The Death Eaters know Ron’s with you now, they’re bound to target the family – don’t apologize,” he added at the sight of Harry’s expression. “It was always a matter of time, Dad’s been saying so for months. We’re the biggest blood traitor family there is.”


“How are they protected?” asked Harry.


“Fidelius Charm. Dad’s Secret-Keeper. And we’ve done it on this cottage too; I’m Secret-Keeper here."





Answer



Just my guess here, but it could be that it might be possible for the Secret Keeper to accidentally bring people into the Fidelius charm's protection.


It was seen that if someone side-along Apparates with a Secret Keeper, it is possible for him to come into the charm's field, even if the Secret Keeper didn't intend to bring him along.


We have seen that the secret can be passed by the Secret Keeper by intentionally communicating with the person he wants to share the secret to (Dumbledore writing the location of Grimmauld place to Harry) and most probably it can also be shared by direct face-to-face communication as well.


My guess is that other more indirect ways are possible. For instance, Lupin was also a Secret Keeper in the last book, just like Harry was. He said that he had to Apparate precisely onto the doorstep so as not to be seen by the guards outside. This is the same thing Harry and the others do as well when they have to leave Grimmauld place and come back. Notice that they don't just Apparate at some place just outside the field of the charm and walk inside (which would have been easier to do). Probably if anyone saw them doing that, it would be good enough as telling them the secret.


The inhabitants of a residence under the Fidelius charm will, sooner or later, need to come out of the protected area for one reason or another. If James himself was the Secret Keeper, it might have been easier to keep track of him whenever he came out of the protected area and "accidentally" get him to show the secret to someone else. But if the Secret Keeper was someone who didn't live in the house, if he made sure that he didn't go to the place himself and didn't blurt out the secret to anyone, the secret can be relatively safer.


So in short, it is less safe for the resident of a house under the Fidelius charm to be a Secret Keeper because he might accidentally show an outsider where the house is when he has to get back in.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more