Re: Unanswered Questions

DaveD wrote:
"Sirius Kase" <SiriusKase@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1171731958.347939.276750@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Feb 17, 11:00 am, nyst...@xxxxxx wrote:

fries...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I believe the secret was the location of James, Lily, and Harry.
Not the location of the house.

Presumably, it was the location of the house where James, Lily, and
Harry were hiding.

No one can see the house, or anyone or anything inside it, except for
of course those in on the secret..


It cannot be the current location of James, Lily
and Harry themselves, because they will constantly be moving around.
Imagine the problems James and Lily would have caring for Harry if
they had to be constantly calling up Peter to tell them where he was
at the moment.

Hence, our old thread of why didn't James hang onto his cloak so he
could secretly make trips to the quickie mart to restock the nappie
supply.


People knew that before, and would assume
they may choose to be in their home.

We don't know that anyone knew that before.

We don't even know that GH was their home before going into hiding.
It was probably already a secret, undetectable, unplottalbe place,
otherwise, the neighbors would have already reported the strange
dissappearnace of the house.


It appears that the place
to be rendered secret must already be a secret place at the time the
spell is cast.

It was probably already a secret, undetectable, unplottalbe place,
otherwise, the neighbors would have already reported the strange
dissappearnace of the house. Of course, the Potters being a rich,
pureblood family may have owned such a house.


Otherwise, there would have been no need to use the 12
Grimmauld Place -- a horribly unpleasant place -- as the secret HQ of
the OOTP. The advantage of that place was that it's location had
already been a secret. Only Sirius and Kreacher, and then Dumbledore,
knew its location. It's location has since been revealed to about 20
more people.

I'm surprised Bellatrix and Narcissa wouldn't know, especially since
Kreacher stays in touch.


And wouldn't the neighbors be
surprised if a house suddenly disappeared (since they would not be
able to see it, but had for years previously)?



I fear you're thinking like a muggle! Logically, people *should* notice. But
this is magic, and perhaps it also affects the memory so muggles (or even
wizards/witches not included in the group who know the secret) just don't
notice it's there. Remember the Leaky Cauldron in PS/SS (UK pb ed. pp53/4):

'It was a tiny grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry
wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at
it. Their eyes slid from teh big book shop on one side to the record shop on
the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry
had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.'


So if you FCed or Unplottabled a house, perhaps people would just stop
noticing it was there and even forget they'd seen it in the past. So perhaps
people's memories just blank when they try to recall the location.


DaveD



Except for one thing - even if they don't notice it - the location is there. It is plottable on a map. Lots of people know about it.

A spell that protects the Potters inside their home might be possible - but a spell that makes the entire world forget a place exists is another thing. I doub't a spell on that magnitude is possible.

While Sirius' house may have been invisible to the muggles - there were people who knew where it was - even if they did not know it was the OOP headquarters.

But the most obvious example I always give is - is it really possible to make a spell concerning the Malfoy House where all of a sudden the Malfoys no longer remember where they lived all their lives? Are you really telling me that I could hide all of their money from them just on a whim? And as long as they are not in on the secret - they would be broke and homeless? No - I don't think so.
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