Just a collection of my various essays on Harry Potter characters, my opinions on them, perhaps a few rants. Check the Table of Contents if there is anything that might interest you!
Most of these essays will revolve around the Marauders Era, since...
This is a topic that keeps me up at night. Why in the name of Merlin, did the Potters choose Peter as their Secret Keeper?
Okay, the obvious answer: we needed that for the plot of the entire Harry Potter series to take place.
But really, why wasn't James made the Secret Keeper?
Before you say, James couldn't be the Secret Keeper because it was his secret that needed concealing, let's acknowledge that in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bill Weasley was the Secret Keeper of Shell Cottage. So, why couldn't James be the Secret Keeper as well?
Which leads me to this question:
WhAt In ThE nAmE oF MeRlIn WeRe ThEy ThInKiNg???
Well I came up with 4 possibilities on why James and Lily decided to make a trusted friend their Secret Keeper instead of themselves.
WHY WASN'T JAMES POTTER THE SECRET KEEPER?
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1. They were stupid.
--> A very straightforward option, which is possible, of course. They had to go into hiding, Dumbledore recommended the Fidelius Charm and they just got carried away with deciding who to use as their Secret Keeper.
As a result of fear, limited time and overthinking, they ended up choosing Peter.
~ But what I don't understand by considering this option is the following: they were not alone in making this decision, so why didn't somebody, who had a little more common sense, say something?
~Also, James and Sirius have proven themselves the opposite stupid, so how did they manage to get themselves into this mess, except if they were perhaps carried away by their confidence and decided that James doesn't need to be the Secret Keeper for them to stay safe...
--> Or perhaps, did James see this as a perfect time to make on of his friends prove their loyalty?
(yes, I am adding this into the 'stupid' category, because if this was the real reason, then he really is stupid)
I mean... this might be true, but I really cannot see it happening. James didn't need that - he trusted his friends beyond everything - Lupin said that James regarded mistrusting his friends as the height of dishonour. So, he didn't need his friends to prove anything to him, he already believed he had their loyalty.
So, even though, one would think that them being stupid is the most probable answer to this question, I don't believe that was the case.
2. James trusted his friends more than he trusted himself.
This is a weird one, but the more I think about it, this might have been the actual reason for his decision.
-- We have already established that James trusted his friends beyond everything. He ensured Dumbledore that Sirius would rather die than give his and Lily's location away and Remus said James regarded mistrusting his friends as the height of dishonour.
-- James also knew that he won't be able to sit inside of his house for the rest of his life. Maybe he was afraid that once he left his house, he would get captured and that he wouldn't be able to resist the Imperious curse or that he would break under the Cruciatus curse or he didn't trust himself not to speak under the influence of Veritaserum?
~I know that you can't force a secret out of the Secret Keeper - that the secret will only be revealed to you if the Secret Keeper willingly chooses to reveal it, but I am certain that some information was kept away from the Potters when they were making their decision, otherwise their final decision really wouldn't have made any sense at all.
3. They needed a 'mobile' Secret Keeper.
This is a solid reason for choosing somebody else as their Secret Keeper, although I do believe it shouldn't have played such an important role in their final decision, or maybe it did.
--James and Lily were in too much danger to leave the house and by not being able to leave the house, they couldn't give their location to people who might want to come over for tea (note the exaggeration) and it would be too risky to write it on a piece of paper like Dumbledore did, because if that piece of paper found it's way into the wrong hands they were doomed.
~ So, I guess that's a possibility, but I'm not a big fan of this one, since James did have an invisibility cloak (and was an Animagus), so he could have left the house undetected.
4. They didn't know that James could be the Secret Keeper.
This option is the one that I always end up thinking is the correct one, although it's the darkest one by far.
-- As I said, I am certain that some information was kept away from the Potters when they were making their decision, so, therefore, perhaps they weren't told that Lily or James could be the Secret Keeper.
Why is this dark?
-- Well, it's dark because they weren't making this decision alone. Dumbledore was there all the time, offering himself to be the Secret Keeper, questioning Sirius's reliability, he was actively involved. So, if Dumbledore was involved throughout the process, why didn't he suggest making James the Secret Keeper? He must have known it was possible!
Did Dumbledore choose not to reveal the information? My automatic response would be: no, Dumbledore wouldn't do this... but then... would he really not do this?
-- We have to ask ourselves what would Dumbledore gain by James not being the Secret Keeper?
1. A chance to find out who is the spy.
2. A chance to find out if the prophecy spoke of Harry or will Harry be eliminated.
3. If Harry was the 'chosen one', Dumbledore would get the chance to take him under his wing.
~Of course, Dumbledore couldn't have predicted Harry's survival, but I think that he knew if a boy was going to try and defeat Lord Voldemort, he shouldn't be pampered by his parents.
Yes, I know, it's a dark theory and I don't want to say it's true, but there is some reasoning behind it, there is a possibility for it to be real. Dumbledore was not a saint and frankly, the older I get, the more I dislike Dumbledore, because almost everything he does is to fit his cunning little plan for 'the greater good' of the wizarding world, regardless of who it might affect. (I am being a little bit harsh, he has his good moments, but... still...)
-- So, by not making James the Secret Keeper, the Potters were not 100% safe and there is the possibility of them being found, betrayed, and therefore there is the possibility of gaining some very useful information.
***
So, those are all the reasons I could think of.
What do you think? Why wasn't James Potter the Secret Keeper?
