What If Sirius HAD Been the Secret Keeper? | Harry Potter Film Theory 

What if.....

We should thank the Supercarlin brothers for giving us Harry Potter WHAT IF

I've always wandered why James wasn't the secret keeper(like bill in deathly hallows) this would mean Voldemort would have to find James to get in but to find James he would have to get in it creates a paradox

The scariest implication of what you said regarding secret keepers is that ole Voldy could have hidden a horcrux, forced someone to become a secret keeper for it, and then immediately murdered them, leaving it unfindable. The perfect defense.

My favorite "What if?" revolves around Snape's father not being abusive to him and his mother. Everything changes. His relationships, his career, his prejudices, and even the parts of his personality he chooses to surface and which to suppress all play huge roles in the story of Harry Potter. In my mind, removing that trauma and replacing it with a loving, supportive home creates a fascinating domino effect.

I think it’s weird how Sirius says “pick someone less obvious” and then they just switch to another close friend. Like. It’s still obvious. If anything they should have picked Petunia or something. She did a great job of never mentioning anything magic to anyone. Or Snape. They definitely wouldn’t pick him, but he would have kept that secret at all costs if it meant Lily’s safety.

There is one difference between Harry and Neville though: Snape was in love with Lilly and thus Voldemort gave her the chance to 'step aside' Nevilles mum wouldn't have that chance and probably die fighting, so Neville wouldn't survive

One problem with Neville being the chosen one: Lily’s sacrifice only work because she didn’t have to die she chose to, and Voldemort had no reason to spare either of Neville‘s parents therefore they wouldn’t be able to choose to die. So how then would the sacrifice be enough to protect Neville?

Ok so interesting possibility and hear me out. Sirius writes to Lily while the Potters are in hiding, ergo he's in on the secret (not sure how owl post works here. Do you need to be in on the secret to send an owl? Let's just assume you do.) In this case, obviously James and Lily have allowed Peter to tell Sirius where they are. If Sirius was the secret keeper, they probably would have instructed the other way around, had Sirius tell Peter. Therefore what I think would happen is Peter is like "Hey Voledemort. I know where the Potters are. I'm not the secret keeper so I can't tell you. But I can tell you who the secret keeper is. It would be a shame if he were to die." Voldemort kills Sirius, Peter becomes a secret keeper, and now the only immediate change is that Hagrid has to find a different way to get Harry to the Dursleys. Oh and I guess book 3 is very different.

I think in the scenario stated it would of played out as follows 1) Sirius lets wormtail and other trusted friends know to be able to visit the potters (believing that as long as no-one told a powerful enemy all would be safe. Remember they all still trusted Peter at this point. 2) Wormtail leads Sirius into an ambush where Voldemort and associates kill him. This causing the Fidelius charm to be weakened as now all who Sirius told become secret keepers. 3) Wormtail is now free to tell old moldy warts the location of the Potter residence. 4) Story progresses as per usual with the exception of Sirius being dead and no-one knowing Pettigrew was the mole so he is walking around free. (unless a legilimens caught him out in the lie)

A very crritical thing you missed here: If Voldemort dies after marking Neville, the Potters are still in hiding, so Bellatrix would have just as little chance of find them as Voldemort did. Which means, whether Sirius dies or not, so long as Voldemort attacks the Longbottoms while waiting for the Potters to come out of hiding, Harry will most likely grow up with his parents. Belatrix will likely still find someone to torture (could be Wormtail if he doesn't escape again) and end up in Azkaban. After a few years of rounding up death eaters, the department might declare the war over (or whatever they did in the original timeline), and Harry will probably grow up hearing the stories of Neville Longbottom, the boy who lived. Ofcourse if we want to increase the sadness, in this timeline, where the Longbottoms are dead, the Potters can't be found to be tortured, another unfortunate target for Bellatrix to torture could be the Weasleys. Arthur works at the ministry and that would be reason enough for Bellatrix, so we might instead see a timeline where Bill and Charlie have to raise their four younger brothers and (unless we want to be more depressed) one infant sister with two parents in St. Mungo's. What would THAT look like. Precy's ambitions fuel by the loss of his parents, Fred and Geroge's mischief an outlet for not having their parents around, Ron being bossed around by his brothers from birth in an even greater extent and Ginny never knowing a mothers love. I at least like to imagine that even though Bill might still get to work in Gringotts (though at a local desk job instead of traveling) and Charlie would probably have to forego his dragon research, when Ron meets the rich Harry Potter and the famous Neville Longbottom, the Weasley's lifes get slightly better as they start spending more of their hollidays in Godric's Hollow instead. I imagine that, in their first summer, Ron runs away from the Burrow after finally having another place to go, their second summer, Charlie wins the lottery and gets them the holliday they deserve, then, after their 3rd year the Potters pays for all to go to the Quidditch World Cup and then as Voldemort makes his return, with Neville against all odds winning the tri wizard tournament, the Potters become as protective of the Weasly's as Molly became of Harry.

I really like this new format. There are so many things that could have gone differently. If Peter was in Slythin and never became friends with James. If the Dursleys were nice people or a supportive family to Harry. If Remus knew about the switch and that Peter was the secret keeper I think this will be a fun avenue to go down and look for to future Harry Potter What Ifs

The fact that Sirius didn’t say dumbledore is just mind boggling

I forever believe that Dumbledore went to Sirius and was like "you dude, you should totally give Peter the secret keeper duties" as he probably planned this whole thing to begin with

Ok but in the letter Harry found at Grimauld Place, Lily says that James was already having a hard time being cooped up in one place. I don’t think he’d be able to just sit there knowing that Sirius and Remus were being hunted down by the death eaters.

While Neville becoming the chosen one is the most likely scenario there is one other thing to consider, the longer the war goes on the more likely it becomes that a new child meets the criteria for the chosen one (parents who defy voldy 3 times, born late July/early august, has someone who loves them). fanfic writers you too can be the chosen ones

I always thought Sirius knew exactly how the Fidelius charm worked. They were suspicious of a spy in the order by that point, but didn't know who it was. If the secret keeper is killed, everyone he has told, possibly including the spy, would then become the secret keeper. That's what Sirius was worried about. He didn't fear that he would ever give up the secret. He wasn't afraid of being killed or tortured for himself. He knew that that was a possibility regardless. He worried that, upon his death, the secret would be out.

Actually we know Pettigrew was in the Potter's house on at least one acassion because of Lily's letter, which means he is under the fidelius charm, so if Snape or Voldemort had killed Sirius and Lupin, then Pettigrew would have been a secret keeper and have told Voldemort, probably making everything go the same minus the plot for the Prisoner of Azkaban and Dumbledore said that not all profecy's come true, which could mean that Voldemort doesn't have to mark them as his equal if he never finds them. Anddd if Voldemort hunts down Neville, Snape wouldn't ask Voldemort to spare his mother, would he? So because Alice Longbottom would of never had the choice to get out of the way, Neville and his family (probably) would have all died, having no one as the chosen one.

But would bellatrix have been able to find James and Lily if they were still under the fidealus charm? Also would Harry have been allowed to go to Hogwarts or would he have just had to live in the house forever

What if instead of having someone outside of their house the secret keeper, James and Lily made one of themselves the secret keeper?

I re-read the books recently and something that stood out to me so starkly is that in the 7th book all the Weasleys have to go into hiding once Ron is discovered with Harry at Malfoy Manor - but when Bill tells Harry about this, he says that Arthur is the secret keeper for all the family at Muriel's and he's the secret keeper for him and Fleur at Shell Cottage BUT that completely goes against the Fidelius Charm rule of no inhabitant as their own secret keeper. It bugs me so much when JK messes up on her own details like this, but to make it less of a painfully dumb author error I just headcannon that Bill said it the wrong way around. Ofc Arthur is keeper for the cottage, and Bill is keeper for Muriel's. Bill just rushed the words and got confused I guess.

As others have mentioned below, it wouldn't change much in terms of whether James and Lily are found and killed. It would only add one extra step to Peter's betrayal. How it went in the story, James and Lily were in hiding for over a year and had visitors (Bathilda, Sirius, and possibly Lupin and Dumbledore), so in a world where Sirius is secret keeper, Peter is trusted with their location so he can visit. He can't reveal the location, but he can tell Voldemort that he's been told, that Sirius is the secret keeper, and that if Sirius is killed, he will become one of a handful of secret keepers and be able to tell him everything. Thus, it only adds the extra step of having to kill Sirius first, but Peter still becomes secret keeper, tells Voldemort, and gets James and Lily killed, leading to Harry surviving the curse, Voldemort losing his powers, and Harry becoming the chosen one. The real question is what would happen after. In the real story, Sirius immediately knows Peter was the traitor because he was the secret keeper, so he confronted him, and was framed for Peter's murder as well as the murder of the 12 muggles Peter killed in the process. But in this alternate scenario, Sirius is dead, and the identity of who betrayed the Potters isn't as immediately obvious. It would depend on how many people Sirius told. Assuming just the 4 mentioned above, Lupin and Peter would be the most obvious suspects, and with Lupin being a werewolf, he might be the one most people assume guilty. But that raises 2 other questions. Would Lupin even be in on the secret? We're never told if Lupin was told where they were and allowed to visit, and in Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius admits that he suspected Lupin and that's why he never told him about the secret keeper switch. So if Sirius had been secret keeper, he might not have told Lupin at all. The other question is, would Lupin have deduced Peter was the traitor and confronted him as Sirius did? Thus giving him the opening to frame him for the same crime? Depending on how you imagine the immediate aftermath, a lot of other questions surface. If Lupin had been framed like Sirius was, would he have survived Azkaban? He didn't have an animagus form to protect himself from the dementors at times, and in fact his werewolf transformation is painful and exhausting, it would've added to his suffering, making it tougher for him to survive and escape. If he never escaped, would Peter have exposed himself and go searching for Voldemort? Or would he have continued his ruse as Scabbers. Heck, for that matter, if he was never confronted or suspected about the betrayal, would he have gone into hiding at all, or would he have searched for Voldemort immediately.

What if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin, but still got friends with Ron on the train and refused Dracos offer of friendship? What if Peter had been properly restrained (eg. petrificus totalus) when they took him up to the castle. Or if Remus had remembered his potion that day? What if Harry had never given the map to the wrong Moody? What if Harry had touched the triwizard cup already on 2 instead of 3, therefore leaving Cedric behind?

This is one that’s been in my head since your Dumbledore’s Big Plan series. What if Sirius had gotten to Harry and transformed into a human before Harry called the Knight Bus?

I love the Weasley’s taking in Harry and you are absolutely right. A family with that many kids probably wouldn’t bat an eye about taking in another.

I love this style of video and you executed it amazingly! Would love to see more. I wonder if the spell would have backfired if Voldy had gone after Neville, because Snape wouldn't have asked for him to spare Frank or Alice, so Frank or Alice wouldn't have had the opportunity to make the decision to sacrifice themselves for their son. I also wonder how anyone would have found James or Lily in this scenario, if they'd stayed in their house, but who knows, maybe they went out for fresh air. Again, love it!

How about if Lupin has been the secret keeper, he was just as devoted to the potter as Sirius plus him being a werewolf means people probably wouldn't try to talk to him. Yes i get that people weren't trusting werewolves at that time but in my opinion the fact that James trusted Lupin might have helped Sirius get over his own trust issues towards Remus

I like to think harry being protected at all made Voldy want to go kill him. It could've been Neville, but the fact Harry had a bunch of protection, including a fidelius charm, placed on him .. he'd think Dumbledore knew he was the chosen one, not Neville.

theory idea. im Listening to OOTP again and something occured to me: did umbridge have a time turner? she seems to be doing a lot. after trelawney and hagrid are on probation she is in every one of their classes, not just harry's divination and care of magical creatures lessons, but all the classes for all grades and houses. she is also inspecting all the mail herself (it is approved by the high inquisitor herself as per easter packages) also since she is in harry's career advice w/ mcgonogall id assume she is in every students career advice. many other things as well but thats all i can think of off the top of my head. edit: also she is teaching all of her own classes of course and being the headmistress

Would love to see other “what if’s” on secret keepers - maybe just as one video: Lupin, Dumbledore, Petunia, Aberforth, Bathilda, etc.

Such a great montage of all the rough things that happened. Only thing missing was a quick "It's pretty obvious" and a Voldemort laugh (never a bad time to use that clip).

Here's a dark what-if: What if Voldemort succeeded in killing Harry that night when he was a baby? Could he have been stopped at all later on by Dumbledor or Snape, or Sirius, or someone else?

I started reading Harry Potter because of you guys and now it’s my favorite book series thanks brother

I'm calling it now, this theory will be Siriusly good (I make no apologies for this joke)

I have always kind of wondered why the Potters didn’t ask Dumbledore to be their secret keeper. He being, allegedly, the only person Voldemort is afraid of seems to be the perfect candidate. Not picking him suggests that the Potters didn’t completely trust him. I wonder if growing up in Godric’s Hollow, James had heard some rumors about Albus’ youth, and that was the reason for their imperfect trust in him.

I would like a fanfic where Sirius really is Voldemort's right hand man and blamed Ron's totally normal pet rat in an attempt to get Harry to trust him.

How about, "What if the Resurrection Stone were used on Nearly-Headless Nick?" i.e. used on someone who's ghost was visible to wizards

To be honest I don’t think Voldemort was actually more powerful than Grindelwald. I believe Voldemort seems more powerful because of his Horcruxes and being obsessed with not dying. Whereas Gridelwald was more curious and tried to use every kind of dark magic he could. So I actually believe if you put Voldemort at his prime versus Grindelwald at his prime I actually believe Grindelwald would actually win quite easily

I always wonder what would’ve happened if James or Lily was the secret keeper. Then if Voldemort went to find them he would have no idea where to find him and even if he went after Sirius or Wormtail it would’ve been impossible to find them anyway because they can’t say where they are

Imagine if Voldemort marked Neville as his equal cuz Neville turned bouncy like when he was tossed out a window and the spell somehow bounces off him and hits Voldemort… very unlikely but still fun to think about.

Ben for Kvothe!🗡🧙🏻‍♂️ J for Elodin!🧙🏻‍♂️🗡 The Harry Potter theories are my absolute favorite! I legitimately accept them as canon because you guys are THAT convincing.

I've considered this before my compliments to the super carlins for this upload

What if Dumbledore was Sirius's secret keeper, Sirius was Lily and James's secret keeper, and either Lily or James was Dumbledore's secret keeper...??

I had a headcanon at the end of book 5 that Neville might end up being the chosen one as a twist ending. I was taken with the line about Ron's injuries from the brains in the Department of Mysteries. (Remember how Ron fought the brains?) It was something like, "Those wounds will take a long time to heal. Thoughts leave the deepest scars." It seemed like a line that would be important later. And I know this doesn't hold with the "Voldemort will mark his equal" bit of the prophecy, but we had just learned in that book how invisibly scarred Neville was from his parents' trauma (even though that would have been Bellatrix's mark, not Voldy's). They were both "marked" in a way. I cheered when Neville became an integral part of defeating Voldy.

You should do a what if...if Voldemort had targeted James and Lilly first instead of Harry then simply walked out.

What if Lupin/Sirius stupified Peter in Prisoner of Askaban to take him to the dementors?

The thing with fidelius charm is that it passes on to all who know. Voldemort is already set to kill Potters. Assuming Peter was told where they live so that he can visit (Sirius was visiting in original, so I think Peter would be told too), once Sirius “would die before telling anybody”, Peter would become (one of many) secretkeepers, and look! it’s snitching time again.

This is a really fun idea for a series. Definitely do more of them. I've always thought about what if Peter Pettigrew hadn't escaped in Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry could've lived with Sirius and never see the Dursleys again. Voldemort may not have returned

Andromeda Tonks would have definitely taken in Harry! They're distantly related through Dorea Black and assuming the wizarding world has similar laws about family adoptions as the muggle world then its her or Narcissa Malfoy, who would have trouble with the adoption process around that time due to her husband fending off the ministry about him being a death eater

Just 1 thing that caught my attention. The spell doesn’t protect the Potters, just the information of their location. So it’s still possible to hunt them down by 3rd parties, scouts, guesses, etc.

Questions- Relistening to Ollivander tell Harry about how the phoenix that gave his feather, only gave 1 other, it got me thinking. Is there a special process the feather has to go through to be a wand core? Couldn’t they take any feather the bird molts to use as the core? "so we all know that it could either have been Harry or Neville, but Voldemort went after Harry. Did Neville ever find out that it could have been him, or was he blissfully unaware?" How do people go missing in Quidditch?

I have a dozen what ifs: 1.) What if Snape hadn't called Lily Evans "Mudblood" and had ended up marrying her instead of James, thus becoming Harry's father? (This is a wildcard, as it would be him dueling Voldemort instead of James, plus, in this scenario, he almost certainly NEVER became a Death Eater, meaning that Voldemort may not have gotten the bit of the Prophecy that Snape overheard, unless he'd have Peter or someone do that job instead.) 2.) What if Arianna Dumbledore's had never been tortured, meaning Albus Dumbledore had a more normal childhood and never partnered with Grindelwald? 3.) What if Grindelwald had killed Dumbledore in the famous duel? (Would he stop Voldermort's rise to power, not being in his own jail? Would Voldermort come and kill him? (I can see him offering Voldermort an alliance, as they had similar goals, but while Grindelwald clearly didn't mind having a partner in crime, Voldermort clearly likes working alone and so I think he'd turn him down. Also, with Dumbledore dead, would Hogwarts fall to one or the other of the Dark Lords? Would Grindelwald have a change of heart some point later, perhaps to Voldermort becoming more powerful than him and also perhaps seeing the error of his ways, and perhaps be a mentor to Harry instead of Dumbledore?) 4.) What if Hagrid had given Harry to Sirius after the death of Lily and James? Would Sirius still have gone after Pettigrew with his best friend's son in tow or would he have tried a different tactic (like going to Dumbledore to tell of Peter's treachery rather than being hot-headed and seeking Peter himself, risking Harry being killed in a possible duel between him and Peter))? 5.) What if Petunia Dursley had a change of heart of her stance on anti-magic and all after her sister's murder and had given Harry the letter and been kinder to him? How would Harry's story have been different if he wasn't abused by the Dursley's? Would Petunia and Vernon have divorced or would he too have mellowed out toward Harry and the magical world? 6.) What if Peter had been caught (perhaps Snape hadn't been knocked out and his extra presence was enough to capture Peter) and Peter was either Kissed or sent to Azkaban (thus foiling Trawlaney's prophecy (BTW, I think in Book 5 Dumbledore states that loads of Prophecies in the Hall of Prophecy ended up NEVER happening, so it's possible that Trawlaney's doesn't either, or that some other servant, perhaps Barty Crouch Jr, who if you recall was still alive, somehow got free of his father's imperius curse sooner (he was getting closer to it at that point anyway, if you recall from Book 4) and simply found Voldermort and took the role of Pettigrew. After all, in a way, he too was "chained" for twelve years, first literally in Azkaban and later to his father under the Imperius Curse. Ths, the prophecy could still have been fulfilled that night anyway even with Peter's capture.) Would Harry living with his godfather instead of the Dursley's have changed anything? Would Sirius have not died in this case, perhaps not having to be so cooped up as he would be a free man here, hopefully (though it's possible Fudge would have tried to get rid of Sirius ANYWAY to save face rather than go explain to the press that they spent all of those resources chasing the WRONG man.) 7.) What if Harry and Hermoine had been caught in book 3, granted AFTER rescuing Sirius, but clearly where they'd be implicated for his escape? Granted, I can see Dumbledore taking the fall here like he did in book 5 in the Centaur and the Sneak, especially as here, unlike in book 5, he actually DID conspire with Harry to do it, but that still creates a new situation, possibly with someone like Umbridge being appointed by the Ministry to replace Dumbledore as the new headmaster in book 4. Also, evne if not expelled, Harry's every move would be watched by the Ministry, meaning he could NEVER make contact, even in the fireplace or whatever, with Sirius. 8.) What if Horcrux Tom Riddle had succeeded in killing Harry and taking the life force from Ginny? Would this have returned the 60+ year old Voldemort, perhaps as his 16 year old self, or would there now be TWO Voldemorts, one a 16 year old and the other still in his sixties but wihtout his body and most of his powers gone? 9.) What if Hagrid had NEVER been expelled? Suppose that Tom Riddle was never able to catch him with Aragog and ended up having to frame someone else or something for Myrtles death, meaning that Hagrid graduated at the end of his seventh year and didn't have such a sucky childhood (i.e. losing his father, losing his giantess mother when he was little, being expelled, etc) and instead was able to use magic and also never went to Azkaban in Book 2, having never been framed by Riddle? 10.) What if Mad Eye Moody have never been killed in the Battle of the Seven Potters? How do you think his survival in the last book and possible addition to the Battle of Hogwarts would have changed things? 11.) What if Fudge had not used the Dementor on Barty Crouch Jr. but had instead done the right thing and used his testimony of Voldemort's return and told people the truth? Would the lack of an extra year of preparation have stopped Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry in Deathly Hallows or would it still have happened anyway? 12.) What if Kreature had been able to save REgulas Black (I think he could have apparated Regulus out of that cave as well)? Would his surivla have perhaps changed Mrs. Black's view on Sirius and Voldmoert after him revealing who Voldemort REALLY was to her? Would anyway else have learned about the Horcruxes, possibly even enusirng that enough were destroyed that Voldermort's defeat in Godrick's Hallow was his actual death?

I think you're forgetting about the fact that not all prophecies are fulfilled even Dumbledore says that they're not. However I think that if you take in account of Voldemort going after Neville instead of Harry he would have killed Neville kill Neville's parents and then he would perceive himself as invincible. Thus he might actually end up slipping and letting his guard down. Now that you have Snape working as a double agent to protect Lily eventually Snape may have learned about the horcruxes the same way that Sirius's brother Regulus did, thus Dumbledore would have found out and with Voldemort letting his guard down more often in his arrogance of thinking he's absolutely 100% protected he could still end up dead yeah it might not be right away it might be a couple of years. Harry could also grow up face the dark lord in battle and beat him then. My question is what would have happened had regulus used his head more and survived the cave. My theory is he would have discovered the rest of the horcruxes and he would have systematically taken care of them as much as he could and once the dark lord fell unsuspectingly he would not have his horcruxes to save him and there would have been no second Wizard War.

According to "the author"? Come on guys. It should be reasonable to say her name. She did create the Wizarding World we love. Don't be afraid of backlash to the point of ridiculous censorship.

I've always considers the prophecy to be a 50/50 situation for voldemort. "Neither can live whilst the other survives" If voldemort had marked Neville as his equil then I believe Neville would have died in the end and Voldemort would have won. Pick Neville, he wins. Pick Harry, he loses

A better question is what would have happened if James himself was the secret keeper. I mean, we literally see Bill do that in Deathly Hallows, so we know its possible, and so would anyone skilled enough to cast the Fidelius charm.

I love this type of video, I would love to see more! You should look up Harry Potter folklore. A RU-vid channel that does a lot of Siri videos like this. Collaboration! Neville could not have survived in this scenario because Voldemort would never have given Nevils mother the chance to live. It has been stated by J. K. Rowling that in order for The sacrificial magic to work, the sacrificer must be given an option to live. You have stated this yourself in other videos so you know this. Voldemort only gave Harry’s mother an option to live because Snape asked him to. Snape would not have cared about Neville‘s parents and not have asked Voldemort to spare either of them. Therefore neville would have died if there had not been some other circumstance that would have spared him. Which, there very well could have been. But What, I cannot say. Also, if Harry and his parents were safe in their house, does that mean harry never would have gone to Hogwarts? Does it mean that none of them would ever be able to leave their house for the entirety of the Wizarding war? And we thought lockdown was bad.😵‍💫 Also also! Actually actually! Even if Harry and Ginny had been raised as siblings and not developed romantic feelings for each other, Harry and Hermione would never have gotten together because “there is literally no romantic chemistry between them ever“!!!

I have a little theory to why it was so important to switch other than it being to obvious. Sirius is from the Black family and most of his family members are either deatheaters or deateather supporters. So they would know how to hurt him. They would know who they could use as leverage against him, that being his brother. Regulus was a deatheater at the time, and even though they wouldn't be able to harm Sirius if he was the secret keeper his little brother would be free game. My theory is that Peter convinced Sirius that if he was the secret keeper Regulus would be used as leverage.

This leaves room open for a movie where Snape slowly gets rid of the people he doesn't like by telling Voldemort that they're connected to the Potters in some way

One would love to see more what if content. Two questions the first one: Is it possible for Sirius to have lived with Lilly and James and still been their Secret Keeper? And second, If eventually Voldemort would have hunted down Neville as the other likely candidate and Snape was already a spy for Dumbledore, wouldn't Dumbledore having received such information from Snape; being in good confidence with Voldemort had hidden them under the same charm and simply use Neville's grandmother as a Secret Keeper?

The only reason Harry was saved was because Lily had the choice to move but didn't. Snape had asked Voldemort to spare her so instead of killing Lily instantly, he told her to move. Snape wouldn't have asked Voldemort to spare Neville's parents so the whole family would have been killed. Basically everything that already happened would still happen but Harry would just be attacked by Voldemort much later in his life.

I had a really interesting thought while watching. What if you hid the identity of the secret keeper inside a second secret keeper? So Voldy is looking for the Potter's secret Keeper (Sirius), but the only person who could actualy tell him who to actually look for is Remus?

But that’s assuming that Sirius never told anyone. The people in his circle of trust like Lupin and Peter would have been told. Then when Sirius died, they would have become secret keepers and Peter would have “ratted” out the Potters and the whole scenario would play out as normal.

Lily wrote to syrius "If you could visit, it would cheer him [James] up so much" but it sound a lot like they gave secret to more than just secret keeper. So the think that would happen would be killing syrius and then going after potters with wormtail as secret keeper or potters changing hideout with wormtail as secret keeper or finaly giving the job to dumbi in next hideout.

I don't think Dumbledore would give Harry to the Weaslies. He barly knew them. There were many people in the order who would gladly take Harry in and that Dumbledore trusted more.

That little compilation at the start and still the one that gives me the most chills is umbridge and I'm watching oftp rn lol

This “What if..” style of video if FASCINATING. Love it, one hundred million percent. Please do more.

Torture gets you to want to stop the torture and the only way to do so is to tell them the secret, you still don't want to tell them the secret.

One thing's for sure, Harry would still be famous because the Potter name is a famous family name.

I was laughing so hard when I saw Umbridge spraying perfume as dark times!!😂😂😂😂.

Snape really got murder on his mind while he loads that Avada Kadavra with malicious intent

This alternative plot is so much fun to listen to. So good and so imaginative

loved this style of video would love to go down more what if rabbit holes

As for where Harry goes - I suggest one of the Black sisters, either Andromeda or Narcissa. It’s been a while so I can’t recall how closely Harry himself would’ve been with them, but as Sirius was his godfather, Sirius’ blood family would have some sense.

“…and Ron can…idk stick it out with Lavender??” 😂😂😂

12:30 Actually, that depends. If it was Neville's Dad who died to save him, then yes, his grandmother would have taken him. But, if is was his mother, then it would have to be someone on his Alice's side of the family. Because Dumbledore would have used the sacrifice of whichever one it was to protect Neville like he did with Harry by sending him to Petunia.

Something I noticed while going over all the magical family trees. Harry is blood related to the Weasleys.. that whole "he has to be raised in the home of his family to keep his mother's protection" thing, would of still applied if he lived with the Weasleys..

I would love to see a series deep dive of this idea going through each year/book

I cried so hard at the thought of Harry being raised a Weasley

In this scenario, just how long could the Potters live in isolation? I can honestly see a situation where James has had enough of hiding out and ends up spilling the secret himself down at the local pub.

1. The Potters' location wasn't the secret, the Potters themselves were the entities that were hidden. This was implied in the books too, where it was said that Voldemort could have looked through their window and still not find them. That's why neither James nor Lily could have made themselves the secret keeper. Also, placing anyone else besides the least obvious (in this case Peter Pettigrew) would have made that secret keeper a huge target. This means that there was a high chance that Sirius would have been killed. Even if the Potters chose Dumbledore as their secret keeper, Dumbledore was already an obvious choice and was a high target leading the resistance against Voldemort. As invincible as we know Dumbledore to be, we only know this in hindsight and so during the first Wizarding war it could be assumed that there was a good possibility that Dumbledore could have died. 2. The first point brings me to this second point, which is that I believe once a secret keeper dies (without revealing the secret), the charm dies and becomes null and void. Things go back to the way they were in the first place before the charm was done. This has to be the only logical explanation. The secret is encased in the keeper's soul so when the keeper dies and the soul is released, the secret shouldn't be bounded to the keeper anymore. That's probably why you wouldn't want your secret keeper being put at risk of dying in the first place, hence the Potters' logical choice of going with someone who isn't an obvious choice. Imagine instead if the charm is cemented permanently upon the secret keeper's death, then a tactical move might be to make a very old or sick person the secret keeper so they don't have much longer to live. Or if you're a villain you can keep a secret forever by making them a secret keeper and then killing them immediately after.

The chosen one prophecy could simply be taken literally as the one He chose in this particular What If

i think peter might've convinced sirius to give him a note telling him where the potters are, then peter could've given voldemort the note and the story procceeds as normal

There's a good chance the Tonks family would have taken Harry in in this scenario. Not only might Andromeda have felt that taking her cousin's godson in would have been the right thing to do, but Andromeda might have also been one of Harry's closest living (magical) relatives! There are some holes in the family trees, but we know that all of the old pureblood families were rather... "closely related." _coughinbredcough_ Depending on just _who_ Charlus Potter and Dorea Black's son was, Harry and Sirius/Andromeda could be very closely related indeed... Meaning Harry would have grown up with an older _sister_ in the form of Nymphadora Tonks, and become interested in transfiguration magic.

This was very fun to watch please make more do these style videos!

Something has been bothering me for awhile. In order to be Master of Death, you have to unite all the Hallows right? So we know for a fact that Dumbledore had two Deathly Hallows in his possession as of Half blood Prince. The Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand. However at the beginning of Half Blood Prince, after convincing Slughorn to return to Hogwarts as Potions Master, Dumbledore tells Harry that he is going to be giving him private lessons and he specifically tells Harry to keep his Invisibility Cloak on him at all times. With the Invisibility Cloak being a Deathly Hallow itself, and Dumbledore having the other two Hallows present, wouldn't that make him Master of Death during Half Blood Prince, since he technically united them?

I love this format! I would love to see more What if videos :) I also think you should do Voldemort's Big Plan book by book the way you did for Dumbledore.

I just died laughing on the montage with a bunch of monsters and then umbridge lol. I mean, it was accurate, but hilarious that she's on the same level as a dragon and a giant snake that petrifies people.

I thought Snape didn't switch sides until after Lilly died, so I see no reason Snape would switch sides in this new timeline

I guess I always assumed that the Longbottoms were also in hiding until Voldemort disappeared. It’s been so long since I read the books that I’m not sure that’s spelled out.

the intro reminds me of the lyric, “if one thing had been different, would everything be different today?”

I like the idea of this kind of video. May I humbly suggest for the next one... What if Snape didn't hate Harry and was actually an ally to him?

“These kids could not catch a break” Me: These kids would have had some serious PTSD.

“Say it with me!” Me: “THE WEASLEYS!!!!!!”

How big of a location can the secret keeper keep secret? The Potters were confined to their house becasue I guess their specific address was the secret, but what if they were just hiding in France or something and that was as specific as the secret was? Would they be protected within the entire country of France? Additionally, what if France gained or lost land and the border moved? Would that affect the boundaries of the secret?

Okay, randomly started watching all the Harry Potter theories recently despite originally not being the biggest fan of the franchise. When the title of the video was said, I started quoting Sirius' "I would have died before betraying my friend," only to hear that actual quote. Long overdue subscription earned :)

In that scenario with the Weasleys, Harry would have had that Gringotts bank vault. His life really would have been completely different

Can we talk about AU where Sirius and Remus don't die for a change? Thanks, much appreciated. (I'm not crying).

Sirius thought Lupin was the spy, so he thought Moldevort would kill him then Lupin would also be a secret keeper and tell Moldy. Obviously.

1:28 wasn't expecting that 😂😂