✓ | Constellations; Fred Weasley [Book One]

Chapter 9

The Secret Keeper

Venus felt nauseous but forced herself to stay still, her curiosity to learn more overpowering her need to run out of the pub and hide.

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Madam Rosmerta whispered.

"Worse even than that, m'dear..." Fudge lowered his voice, "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius charm."

"How does that work?" Madam Rosmerta was interested.

"An immensely complex spell," Professor Flitwick said, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find, unless, of course, the Secret Keeper, chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

"So Black was their Secret Keeper?" Madam Rosmerta whispered.

"Naturally," Minnie said, "James told Dumbledore that Black would rather die than tell where they were, that Black and his family were planning to go into hiding themselves, and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret Keeper himself."

"He suspected Black?"

"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements. Indeed he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"

"He did. Then barely a week after the Fidelius charm had been performed-" Fudge was telling Madam Rosmerta.

"Black betrayed them?"

"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colours as a traitor. Poor Rose had no idea at all. He had no choice but to run for it-"