Re: Unanswered Questions


Thom Madura wrote:
DaveD wrote:
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.

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.

JKR tells us that Hogwarts and 12 GP are unplottable. Your argument,
then, clearly proves too much.

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.

Very likely, a place must already be secret, to some extent, before
the secret is protected by the Fidelius Charm.

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.

Nobody knew where it was except Sirius & Kreacher. After Mrs. Black
died, the house remained empty for 10 years, with Kreacher having mad
conversations with Mrs. Black's portrait. I suppose this is because
no-one else could find it. Only after Sirius was released from prison
did anyone set foot in the place.

The location was already secret. That was while it was an ideal
location for such secret to gain the additional protection of a
Fidelius Charm.

Neither Voldemort nor the Ministry of Magic knows of the location.
Both were looking for Sirius, and the only explanation for their
failure to check his house would be because they did not know where it
was. Note that neither would have been looking for the "Headquarters
of the Order of the Phoenix" -- just for Sirius.

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?

I would suppose not. That is why I keep pointing out that the secret
place to be protected must already be secret, to some extent, before
the spell is cast, and the cooperation of the various secret-knowers
is probably required for casting. The spell helps protect secrets --
it does not create them.

.