Harry's cloak

[PTeppic]

Just noticed an update on JKR's own site: a Never Asked Question (NAQ) about the series: how come Prof. Dumbledore had James Potter's invisibility cloak to be able to give it to Harry for Christmas in his first year at Hogwarts?

Her reason was not given, for predictable plot-to-come reasons, but she says it is "a significant - even crucial - answer."

So, discussions time: any guesses why Dumbledore had the cloak?

Of course, this question prompts (perhaps) an equally important one: was it in Dumbledore's possession before James' murder, or did he collect it from Godric's Hollow afterwards? [I've assumed when reading the books that they suggest he can see Harry under it, so presumably see the cloak itself.] I suppose if the latter, it's the sort of rare magical artefact he would want to keep (and he does seem to have some sort of skill at premonition, despite comments to Harry about the subject). If it were the former possibility (he had the cloak before the murder) then there are considerably more possibilities (including because he predicted it[???] and I don't want to get into that mind-warping discussion here...)

 

[carrie221]

The cloak was returned to Godric Gryffindor's prossession which is somewhere in Hogwarts... since Dumbledore is the headmaster he has access to some vault which holds the founders' possessions

OR

Dumbledore picked it when he went to Godic's Hollow after the attack

OR

James left it with Dumbledore along with other possessions before going into hiding

OR

...

 

[PTeppic]

James left it with Dumbledore along with other possessions before going into hiding

That option was always the one, when reading, that gave me the most problem - although Lord V. was out there attacking the wizarding world, James and Lily didn't appear to have gone into hiding (it's too long since I read POA). Unless Godric's Hollow is a long-time previously disused family home they returned to for safety? Put simply, (a) how would James know it might be a good time to give certain possessions to Dumbledore, (b) why Dumbledore [when they had Sirius and Peter et al], (c) wouldn't a cloak have been useful in their plight [not against all LVs supporters, but at least the less able ones - I'd imagine only the most powerful would be able to see through it]

 

[Wishful]

The cloak was returned to Godric Gryffindor's prossession which is somewhere in Hogwarts... since Dumbledore is the headmaster he has access to some vault which holds the founders' possessions

I very much doubt the cloak was a possession of Gryffindor. Or maybe it was, but it's not very valuable - I don't think you would keep a rather common invisibility cloak between rare possessions such as Gryffindor's sword.

 

[MJRevell]

The cloaks are not too common, but I see your point. It is a possibility that James leant the cloak to the Order, for events like we have seen in book 5. But that seems a little too casual to be called 'crucial'. I think Snape is involved in some way.

 

[PTeppic]

but it's not very valuable

I thought the first thing Ron Weasley said, on realising what the cloak was, was "wow, they're really rare". In general, rare = valuable.

 

[Wishful]

I thought the first thing Ron Weasley said, on realising what the cloak was, was "wow, they're really rare". In general, rare = valuable.

I know they're not common an sich. But compared to e.g. Gryffindor's sword, it's worth almost nothing.

 

[Lissa]

Doesn't the note that came with the cloak at christmas say that his father left it in his possession and he was returning it?

 

[carrie221]

Doesn't the note that came with the cloak at christmas say that his father left it in his possession and he was returning it?

Yes it did say that

Okay...

1. The cloaks are suppose to be very rare and valuable... it would be especially so if it had been Godric's

2. They had a secret keeper so that no one would find out where they were hense it being in hiding... James may have given it to dumbledore right before they went into hiding to give to harry at school as he rememebered all the fun he had with the cloak at school

 

[Wishful]

OK, supposing the cloak was once Godric Gryffindor's and therefore very valuable....

then why, by Merlin's beard (), would Dumbledore trust it into the hands of an 11-year-old?

 

[MJRevell]

Maybe the cloak is made out of Dumbledore's hair, and it was just being returned to it's original owner?

 

[carrie221]

OK, supposing the cloak was once Godric Gryffindor's and therefore very valuable....

then why, by Merlin's beard (), would Dumbledore trust it into the hands of an 11-year-old?

1. Because Harry is the heir to the family

and

B. Without the cloak Harry would not be able to put himself in all of those dangerous situations that I think Dumbledore is using to train Harry

 

[Adasunshine]

Train Harry? Pah! There's something quite sinister behind Dumbledore's motives, I don't know why I don't trust him and I really hope I'm wrong but he knew too much and that's one horrible way to "train" an 11 year old boy who only found out about his inheritance, powers and personal history a mere few months before his first face-off with Voldy!

I don't know why Dumblydore had the cloak, maybe like the note says, James left it in his possession before he went into hiding, maybe Sirius took it from Godric's Hollow or Hagrid when he collected Harry on Sirius' motorbike.

Maybe, just maybe, Snape (who also seems to be able to "feel" the cloak's presence) retrieved it from Voldy's possession and took it to Hogwarts but that's a bit too far fetched even for me...

There are lots of possible answers, the only person who knows the right one is JK herself, like a lot of other bloody things in Harry Potter!

I WANT THE 7th BOOK!

xx

 

[MJRevell]

Some interesting ideas

I think it's possible to assume that when Voldemort went to kill Harry prior to book 1, he went with his Death Eaters. I think they then waited outside the house, whilst he himself went in to do the job, having been thrice defied and all that.

After his demise, then, and following this logic - any of the death eaters could have picked up the cloak... Snape, I feel, is the most likely contender to have picked it up in such a scenario. Maybe he was going to steal it - and Dumbledore stopped him. Maybe he took it to Dumbledore to save it from the other DE's, and that could have been something that helped his cause with Albus over the years.

 

[Adasunshine]

Please excuse the double post...

I'm just re-reading Chamber of Secrets and I have a bit of a crackpot theory...

Towards the end, when Harry faces Voldy again as Tom Riddle there's a line....

"Now Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him."

Now, it is a bit crackpot but what if, Harry is a descendant of Dumbledore who himself is a descendant of Godric Gryffindor (hence being able to pull the sword from the hat). As mentioned in the first two books, Harry knows nothing about his father's family, we never get to find anything out in the subsequent books either.... Also, they say that ol' Dumblydore is the only wizard alive who is a match for Voldy, another reason that he could possibly be a descendant of one of the 4 greatest wizards of the age.

I've not really thought this through properly and it's just something that sprang to mind (mind you, a lot of things spring to my mind, like Dumbledore and Voldy being somehow related and Dumblydore acts out of guilt towards Voldy).

Just thought I'd run this by you all though, it does seem that Harry has a lot of strange connections to Godric Gryffindor and Dumblydore, was just wandering off on one of those tangent thingys...

xx

 

[Wishful]

Harry is a descendant of Dumbledore

That would mean that Dumbledore is either James Potter's / Lily Evans's grandfather, or that he's actually Harry's father. The latter seems very unlikely and kinda weird.

On the other hand, a wise bearded man having a child and then giving it to two young people reminds me of another famous book.

 

[Adasunshine]

No, he can't be Dumblydore's son as he is the image of his father, except his eyes, he has Lily's eyes!

Just a crackpot theory like I said, I don't dismiss anything out of hand where Potter's concerned, you just never know!

xx

 

[carrie221]

There has been some minor speculation that Dumbledore is James Potter's Grandfather making him Harry's Great-Grandfather but... I don't think that is true.

Also about Harry looking like Lily as far as the eyes go well there are such things as glamours... who knows who Harry Potter's real parents are

 

[Adasunshine]

Oh no, I don't think it's a glamour, I do think he is the child of James & Lily. It's just we have no idea who their families are. We know some about Sirius', we even know about Voldy's but nothing about Harry's, just leaves it wide open is all.

Just a little gripe of mine though is that throughout the books, Harry is said to have brilliant green eyes and JK has even said in interviews that the colour of his eyes is actually quite important yet in the films, he has blue eyes - very annoying!

xx

 

[carrie221]

Oh no, I don't think it's a glamour, I do think he is the child of James & Lily. It's just we have no idea who their families are. We know some about Sirius', we even know about Voldy's but nothing about Harry's, just leaves it wide open is all.

Just a little gripe of mine though is that throughout the books, Harry is said to have brilliant green eyes and JK has even said in interviews that the colour of his eyes is actually quite important yet in the films, he has blue eyes - very annoying!

xx

Yeah the only thing we know is that Petunia is supposedly Harry's Aunt and that James' parents had him when they were older, were purebloods and took Sirius in and what we have seen in the mirror in book 1.

About the eye color when they mess up we are not suppose to notice as it is seen as too minor