Why did Dumbledore have James’s Invisibility Cloak?

[felicitys_mind]

Note: First is my original theory and then after "Update" is my revised theory.

JK Rowling recently updated her website to include the following entry:

"NAQ

... which means, 'never asked question'.

Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?

Prior to

Comments

[meep]

There's a big problem with this: how would Figg know where the Potters were? How could anybody (other than owls) deliver anything to the Potters without consulting with the secret-keeper?

Remember, nobody knew except for 4 people (Pettigrew, the Potters, and Black) that Pettigrew was the secret-keeper. The secret-keeper is hiding the Potters from =everybody=, not just people who mean them harm. So this can't have been the plan.

I'm thinking the Potters were in a fallout shelter mode - they had stockpiled necessities which would last for a few months. I don't think anybody thought the Potters were intending to stay hidden forever - just for a short period of time, hoping that Voldemort would be defeated by somebody or disabled, to lift the need for the protection.

[izhilzha]

how would Figg know where the Potters were? How could anybody (other than owls) deliver anything to the Potters without consulting with the secret-keeper?

Well, presumably they wouldn't need to deliver the supplies to the Potters personally. I imagine Figg could've left stuff at/in the Godric's Hollow house or another nearby drop point.

This is a very good point about anyone "keeping watch" on the Potters, however. Only Wormtail could actually have done that, as far as we know.

[terrencemallot]

As far as we know, Harry doesn't change his attitude or opinion even after he knows Snape has saved his life in Book One.

[felicitys_mind]

Flitwick said the Secret Keeper must “choose to divulge” the location, but that doesn't mean the Secret Keeper must give the location in person. Harry learned about the location of 12GP from a note Dumbledore had written down and entrusted with Alastor Moody, so that’s probably how people like Dumbledore and Hagrid knew how to find the Potter house at Godric’s Hollow even though they didn’t know Wormtail was the Secret Keeper.

And since Sirius knew about the switch and wanted it to work as a bluff, Sirius was showing people the note indicating the location of the Potters’ house. So long as Wormtail wanted someone to know where the Potters were staying, Sirius would have been able to show them the note just as Moody showed Harry the note saying the Headquarters for the OotP is 12GP.

So I don't see any difficulty with Figg knowing about the Potters' location. I think it likely, in fact.

[polymorphously]

"However, the Potters couldn’t leave the house, so they needed help as far as getting groceries and other necessities."

They're magic; they don't need to shop for groceries. :) Mrs. Weasly conjures soup and sauces straight out of her wand.

It makes sense in general, though, that James gave the OotP, via Dumbledore, the Invisibility Cloak.

[felicitys_mind]

I have to disagree with that. The Weasley's have a vegetable garden because they can't just congure whatever they want to eat. I don't know quite how Molly pours sauces out of her wand, but they have bottles of butterbeer, bread, salad, etc., and it isn't just conjured up.

[focusf1]

McGonagall conjures food out of nowhere....

[felicitys_mind]

She does not conjure it out of thin air. She transfers it from the kitchens where the elves prepared it. The elves make all the food themselves and place it on platters that have counterparts on the tables in the Great Hall; they send it up magically when it's time for the feast to begin and then they bring down leftovers after the feast has ended. That was mentioned in GF

[abigail89]

I think it entirely possible James, as a loyal member of the Order, simply gave the IC to Dumbledore for general use. So I agree there.

But I don't buy the Figg as Grocery runner. If she had just a hint of where they were living, she would've been too exposed, even if no one magical knew she was a Squib and worked with the Order. No, it doesn't make sense for AD to place anyone nearby.

Question: Is Fidelius put on a location or on a person? If it's just a physical location, then why on earth did they stay in the house at Godric's Hollow? Doesn't it stand to reason that they should've moved to a house that no one knew about, and then been safe(er) to walked about the village? However, if Fidelius works on a person, as in a kind of "look not" spell, then it would have worked to keep James & Lily safe, even if they needed to go out.

Right?

[felicitys_mind]

The problem with the explanation that James simply gave the IC to Dumbledore for general use is that there's nothing "crucial" about that explanation. What Rowling wrote on her website in the last couple of days is this:

"NAQ
... which means, 'never asked question'.

Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?

Prior to posting this I had a quick look on-line, and realised that some fans have been speculating about this question. However, nobody has ever asked me about it, and they really should have done. Just to allay the fears of the justifiably suspicious, this isn't what we in the know call 'a Mark Evans situation.'* There IS a significant - even crucial - answer."

Question: Is Fidelius put on a location or on a person? If it's just a physical location, then why on earth did they stay in the house at Godric's Hollow? Doesn't it stand to reason that they should've moved to a house that no one knew about, and then been safe(er

[izhilzha]

The Fidelius Charm is put on a location from what we've learned (HBP2 Snape to Bellatrix that he can't divulge the location of the OotP headquarters).

Wish I had my books to look this up properly. In PoA, when the Fidelius charm is being explained, doesn't Flitwick something to the effect that someone could walk up to a house and peer in, but if he hadn't been told by the Secret Keeper, then he wouldn't even "see" whoever/whatever was under Fidelius? I was under the impression it could be placed on either a location (as 12 Grimmauld Place) or a person.

I don't follow your question exactly since the Potters wouldn't have been able to hide simply by moving to a different village if Voldemort really wanted to find them (an owl could be sent to them and followed).

No, otherwise the Ministry could have used this method to find Sirius. Iirc, it's possible to make oneself unfindable/"unplottable" with magic. (I'm sure JKR has said as much, even if it's not made explicit in the books; it's certainly implied by cases such as Sirius'.)

[felicitys_mind]

IMO there is no evidence in the books that a Fidelius Charm can be put on a person. When Sirius was hiding in the tropics, he kept switching birds and telling Harry to do the same so that no one would pick up a pattern. When Sirius was hiding in the cave in Hogsmeade, he had to steal newspapers and eat rats to stay hidden. When he was at 12GP, Dumbledore wouldn't let him leave the house because it was too dangerous.

Sirus was in the cave and 12GP at Dumbledore's suggestion, so if the Fidelius Charm could be used to hide a person, that's what Dumbledore would have done and allowed Sirius to walk in public like a free man, whether in Hogsmeade or London.

I don't think there is any "unplottable" magic that can be applied to a person the way it is applied to a building.

[shaggydogstail]

The idea that Arabella Figg was the one using the cloak is interesting. I hadn't thought of that. I'm not sure I'm 100% convinced by the grocery shopping part, but it's definitely worth some thought.

So long as Wormtail wanted someone to know where the Potters were staying, Sirius would have been able to show them the note

I find this a bit unlikely. Why would Peter write a note for DD etc to find the Potters? It would make it more likely that his cover would be blown if DD realised the note was from him and it obviously isn't in Peter's interests for DD to be able to pop around and visit the Potters. Also, it would seem a bit bizarre if Sirius was going around handing people a note saying where the Potters where hiding instead of just saying it. I think that would have made it pretty obvious that he wasn't the SK.

[felicitys_mind]

Wormtail was the Potters' Secret Keeper, so how do you explain how Dumbledore and Hagrid knew where to find the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow but thought Sirius was the Secret Keeper

[shaggydogstail]

But there has to be an explanation for how Dumbledore and Hagrid knew the Potters' location but didn't know Wormtail was the Secret Keeper and how they knew so soon that the attack had happened.

There's several possibilities;

1. The Charm wasn't effective when the house was destroyed.

2. The Charm wasn't effective when the Potters died. (Either because the secret wasn't true anymore or because the spell died with it's caster--Lily.)

3. Peter told Snape, who was actually watching over the Potters and then told DD what had happened.

4. The Potters had a magical portrait which reported back to DD.

5. Dumbledore left Fawkes with the Potters.

The last person Wormtail would want to be able to get to the Potters was DD--it was just too big a risk to his cover. 'Using block writing' isn't much of a security measure when Peter's freedom, and quite possibility his life, depends upon no-one finding out what he's up to.

[magnetic_pole]

The Potters had a magical portrait which reported back to DD.

This is an interesting idea, Shaggy.

As I tried to say below, I suspect that knowing more about the cloak means we'll know something substantial about the plot--not just about the way the news of the Potters' deaths traveled. I think it may have something to do either with the way that Voldemort was (or could be) defeated or with characters whose alliances are still important to the plot of the story (Snape, for example.)

Maggie

[grimble_krumble]

Just a thought: I wonder if it has something to do with the Werewolf Caper and James's subsequent "rehabilitation" ... Perhaps James agreed not to go sneaking around anymore, and gave DD the cloak to "prove" it ...