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We know that Owl magic can get around even the most powerful spells, and owls will deliver a letter to its intended recipient, even if the sender gives very little details on who they even are. Hedwig was even able to find "Snuffles" correctly despite Harry not even telling her who "Snuffles" actually was. She just delivered her letter, as a good owl should.

Given that, I was wondering about the viability of Voldemort using owls to find the order. I know it's "not his style" or whatever, but generally authors at least give some reason as to why such an obvious and simple plan wouldn't have worked.

So my question is this: Given what we know about Owl magic, would Voldemort have been able to get a parliament* of owls and say to them:

"Go and find the members of the Order of the Phoenix."

Then follow them to victory?

I don't imagine they'd even have to go very far for the first one either, because one of the owls would of course just fly about 10 feet and land in front of Snape.

Also, just to clarify, this is not a question about what Voldemort would or (probably) should have done, it's just whether or not he could.

*Yes, the collective noun for owls is called a "Parliament".

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    Nitpick: Harry did tell Hedwig; something like "It says Snuffles on the envelope, but it's for Sirius, OK?" Dec 2, 2016 at 10:51
  • While I'm sure this is a duplicate in that the question asked is effectively the same, despite being about different characters in different scenarios, I still personally find the answer to be very lackluster. Claiming that they make themselves untraceable by owl doesn't really work when you later write about them communicating by owl. What it says to me is that there actually isn't an answer, and that it's a plot hole JK is simply avoiding. Dec 2, 2016 at 13:06
  • There's no obvious reason to think that "making yourself untraceable by owl" is the same as "preventing owls from finding you". Presumably, it simply makes it impossible for anyone to follow the owl. Personally I don't find this any harder to swallow than the Fidelius charm, for example. Dec 2, 2016 at 22:04

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