The Fidelius conceals location from magic itself, not mortal perception

Every description of the Fidelius emphasizes absolute concealment—the hidden place becomes unfindable even to someone standing before it. This exceeds simple memory modification or perceptual interference. If the charm merely altered individual awareness, magical detection would circumvent it, yet no spell in the stories penetrates the protection. The charm may instead edit reality's magical layer, removing the location from the substrate wizards draw upon for their craft.

This reading explains why only voluntary revelation breaks the seal. The Secret-Keeper doesn't restore altered memories but reintegrates severed knowledge into the magical world. It clarifies why those already inside before the charm's casting retain access—they anchor to the physical location before its magical signature vanishes. The protection's rarity suggests the difficulty lies not in casting complexity but in conceptual audacity: temporarily deleting a place from the universe wizards perceive.

The charm likely operates through conventional mental barriers applied universally. Mass memory modification would achieve identical results without invoking metaphysical restructuring. The stories show protective magic working on minds and bodies, never on abstract magical fields. Treating the Fidelius as reality-editing introduces unfounded cosmological claims beyond the evidence.