The Fidelius Charm was once more employed to cloak the base of the Order of the Phoenix at 12 Grimmauld Place. They designated their Secret-Keeper as Sirius Black, but then switched to Peter Pettigrew at the last minute before the spell was cast as they thought it would be less obvious they had refused Albus Dumbledore's offer to be secret keeper due to them preferring their friends, which proved a deadly mistake - Pettigrew betrayed them to Lord Voldemort, who found and murdered the Potters, with only Harry Potter surviving the attack. The Fidelius Charm was used to protect James, Lily, and Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort at their home in Godric's Hollow, the location of which was the secret entrusted. He then merely had to think about the said location whilst in the correct area and it would appear out of thin air, allowing him entry. For example, Alastor Moody gave Harry Potter a parchment with Albus Dumbledore instructing where the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters was. Once the secondary Keeper had received the information in either of these ways, the information would still appear hidden to them until they started thinking about it, at which point the secret would reveal itself to them alone.
The trio subsequently abandoned the house as a hideout. It is explained that because Hermione (along with everyone else who knew the house's location) had been rendered Secret-Keeper by Dumbledore's death, she inadvertently took Yaxley past the protections of the Fidelius Charm. This theory was postulated because whilst 12 Grimmauld Place was under this charm and being used as a base of operations for Harry, Hermione and Ron only after Dumbledore's death, the Death Eaters evidently became aware of 12 Grimmauld Place's approximate location knowing that Harry Potter had inherited the property from Sirius Black.ĭespite watching the gap between numbers 11 and 13 when on the lookout for Harry, the house remained invisible to them until Yaxley grabbed onto Hermione Granger's arm while she, Harry, and Ron Weasley Disapparated away from the Ministry of Magic to 12 Grimmauld Place, where they had been hiding. It was also possible that primary Keepers could reveal information to another by showing it to them. The method for the primary Keeper to voluntarily tell another person the secret could be verbal or written. as the area they were looking for), and they would not therefore learn the location accidentally. For example, if someone were to hide a location in this way, even if a person were to stumble into the specific area they would not be able to recognise it for what it was (i.e.
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The people to whom the Secret Keeper had already divulged the information (secondary Keepers) would not be able to pass it along even if they wanted to, and the information in question could not be learned even by stumbling across it, even if one were staring the secret in the face. Additionally, the disclosure had to be completely voluntary, as methods of magical coercion such as Veritaserum, Legilimency, the Cruciatus Curse or the Imperius Curse had no effect on the charm. Once the secret had been implanted, the only method for another to learn it was for the primary Secret Keeper to divulge it to that person directly it could not be discovered any other way. It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters." - Sirius Black on Peter Pettigrew's betrayal of the Potters' secret Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you. " Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it.
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It was also possible that the spell had to be cast by the Secret Keeper him/herself, so only a wizard can be it.
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However, it appeared that, to be eligible, one had to be capable of divulging the secret if they wished to, as this would explain why wizards did not simply bestow the secret onto creatures who could not speak a human language, or creatures such as house-elves, who could simply be ordered by their masters to not divulge the secret (as such an order would override their free will). It is unknown what criteria had to be met before someone could qualify as a Secret Keeper.
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If the Keeper had chosen not to reveal the secret to anyone (so that they are the only Keepers), then the secret rested with them forever. Once the Secret Keeper died, all the people who had learnt the secret from them would become the new Secret Keepers. When the charm was initially cast, one could choose more than one person to be Secret Keeper, though it is unknown if there was a limit as to how many people could carry the same secret in this way.