Do you guys ever wonder how James got the invisibility cloak? i do sometimes. And then I wonder if James is a descendant of GG, then could the ic be his. And wouldn't it make since for Voldy to make a horcrux of it. I think that there are some objects that we have to look back at (ie Sorting Hat). These don't have to be horcruxes, theres nearly a thousand locked and opened strings about those. But lets have this just be things that hit us weird, objects and such. And didn't Mr. Weasley say that any object that thinks for itself, but you can't see its brain, is dark magic. What about the sorting hat? Wasn't there a WOMBAT question about that remark too?



[ADMIN NOTE] Following comments made by a number of members, I'm erging the two conversations that were going on in different areas of the forums about the invisibility cloak and I'm going to pin it to try and raise the profile a little bit. It was felt that this is a significant point to discuss and that it isn't prominant enough, certainly not as much as Snape's guilt or who RAB is, so here we are...a pinned, renamed thread to accomodate all discussions on the invisibility cloak and why it was so significant that Dumbledore had it.

I think James must have inherited some money... obviously he had plenty because they left a pile of it to Harry. I think James may have just bought the invisibility cloak. We know they're rare, but they can be made (from the hair of the Demiguise), so they'd be expensive, but not impossible to get. Although, James did have the cloak while he was a student at Hogwarts, so chances are he got it as a gift from someone or inherited it.

It would be pretty cool if he was a decendant of Godric Gryffindor - that would explain a lot, but that is debated other places.

I have always been curious about the Marauder's Map. We know it wasn't created with dark magic because we know who the Marauders are... but I have wondered how it was made. That brings up another question... is Hogwarts unplottable? If so, how'd they make a map of it? Maybe you can map something if you're already inside it? Besides that the map seems to have tons of magical qualities... how'd a bunch of Hogwarts students make something like that? Maybe James used the cloak to peruse the restricted section of the library like his son.

I do hope that we find out what happened to DD's hand. We know it was caused by something he did to retrieve LV's ring, but he never went into detail. What kind of magic did the ring possess?

Just wondering apart from the invisibility cloaks what other interesting items were there?
JAems was definitely rich, but a lot of that could have come from his job, so I think its more likely that he got the cloak as a gift/inherited it.
Maybe James is the heir to GG as he and Lily lived at Godrics Hollow, so that si where the cloak came from.
Or maybe James found it...

good thoughts, what if...
the invisibility cloak was in fact GG's. and james was related to him. passed through generations, and as for the money...we dont know what lilly and james did for a living. and what about harrys grandparents?? they were never mention. where are they in this?

Well I think that James either got it from his father or he bought it on one of his trips to Digon Alley. The only way I can think of this is because well they were rich so I think it would have been easy for him to ask someone to make it for him and if he was a decendent from GG then the Invisibility Cloak could have been passed down to James father, to James, to Harry and so on.

That's a good question. Ron said that they're really rare, so I'm doubting that he purchased it in Hogwarts, so maybe it's a fmily heir loom, although knowing James, probably not. Well, James and his friends were smart, I mean they caused more throuble than they were worth, but they were smart, so who knows. He had it while he was at school, to steal food from the kitchens, and since it belonged to him, I'm guessing that he obtained it legally (theoretically), and that it wasn't given to him by Dumbledore. That might come into play later on, though. I mean, many characters have them, so, I guess we just have to ask someone from the Order. I dunno, other wise. Good question though.

~La MaitressedeMort

I had some thoughts about it but when I saw the Never Asked Question (NAQ) in JKR's website I was pretty sure about it :

JKR said that the fact that James Potter gave DD his invisibility cloak can be "even crucial"..

And now I understand that Lilly and James knew about the prophecy and they knew that the only way to destroy LV was the sacrifice and to give HP this protection for fulfill the prophecy...

So all was a setup for LV. James And Lilly were an instrument for HP.
Through them HP fulfilled the prophecy and ,as DD said, acquired the hedge against LV and the powers to kill him...

Am I right???

[Mod Note]Hi, I'm going to move this topic to the forum designated for Rowling and alter the titles. If you have any questions, please contact a Head Auror, thanks.

very good theory

very possible

well i cant really come up with an arguement against it... well done!

Well, Today JK updated her website, saying:



So I was wondering... anybody with an idea??? Because I haven't the foggiest

maybe the plan was for james and lily to be killed. and dumbledore was there right when Voldemort had entered the house. dumbledore couldve been under the cloak when james and lily were killed. or any number of other reasons.

Well, it doesn't sound like Dumbledore to stand in the same room with the Potter's and Voldemort and not doing anything but just stand there under the cloak watching Lilly and James die??

But there's another question I have also. What's the other way Dumbledore can make himself invisible? if you read JK's quote, she says he can make himslef invisible without a cloak....

I really don't understand anything of it... Where are those brilliant minds amongst us??

That is quite an interesting question that JKR posed. I think it might be one of her red herrings, but we know that DD can become invisible without a cloak -- he tells Harry so in PS/SS when he confronts Harry about the Mirror of Erised (sp?). The note to Harry when the cloak is given to him says "Your father left this in my keeping before he died..." Perhaps DD was lending it out to other members of the Order like they did with Moody's in OoTP... but for what use? It's the only reason I can think of for DD having it.... I'm sure JKR has many. She's sly like that. ;-)

The NAQ, or never asked question that JKR was refferring, was;

What was Dumblefore doing with James' cloak at his death?

We know that Dumbledore could make himself invisible, therefore he had to hide something else. Harry was placed in care with his aunt and uncle, though underground, some people/wizards knew.

So, what was Dumbledore hiding?

I believe it was Harry's unknown sibling...Hermione....
[Mod Note]Hi, I merged the topic you made with a similar one, if you have any questions, feel free to contact a Head Auror, thanks.

Well, I don't think Hermione is Harry's sibling, but I agree that it is very mysterious that James would not want his cloak, especially when Voldemort was hunting for them.Wouldn't he/they need it even more than ever? What is so special about it?

wow... i have thought about this for sometime... but was afraid to post it for i felt people would think of me as terrible to suggest Dumbledore of usin Lily and james as tools to bring about the dark lord... that would explain why they didnt just dissaparate that night...

hmmm I love JKR... so mysterious

~Albus

I think James had decided that somebody needed the cloak more than him. I think James thought he and his family were well protected by the Fidelius Charm. Why would he need an invisibility cloak if he was already effectively invisible from everyone except those who Wormtail revealed it to (since he was their secret-keeper)?

But why would DD need the cloak if he could already become invisible without it? The only reason I can think of is that he was loaning it out to members of the Order of the Phoenix similar to what the Order did in OoTP with Moody's cloak. Why would they need the cloak? Where they following someone they thought was a spy... perhaps Wormtail?

The only other thing that makes sense is that DD was hiding something or someone else. What about Neville? He was in danger too, but his parents decided not to go into hiding like the Potters.

I don't think the Potters knew what was going to happen ahead of time, but it would explain why they used Wormtail as their secret-keeper and not DD or Sirius. If they knew Wormtail was a spy... why else would they use him? Did they actually think he would resist the DE's if they caught him and tortured him? He had always been weak. I just don't think I can buy the fact that they planned to sacrefice themselves the way they did. There are so many things that could have gone wrong. Even DD has said that just because a prophesy is made doesn't mean it will definitely come true. They weren't even certain at the time if Harry was the boy the prophesy was about... he hadn't been "marked' as LV's equal yet. It just seems like too big a risk... too many unknowns, just for the chance at giving Harry an edge in fighting LV.

I'm pretty sure DD was hiding something... and that it wasn't because James and Lily knew they were going to die that night. We'll see though!

I'd never thought of the possible importance of the cloak before Jo posted that question, but I kind of like the idea that James perhaps stole it when he was at school (since he was known to be quite the rebel), and then his "returning" it to Dumbledore would have made sense- and not been because he knew he would die and would need DD to return it to Harry.

If it has some greater importance, which it must if Jo brought it up, I can't think of what it might be except for the Horcrux idea or that DD used it to conceal something- but if it is either of those and DD knew its importance why would he have given it to Harry in his first year?

Perhaps an invisibility cloak does something more than keep you invisible!

In OoTP, the Order had a number of these cloaks being used, Moody had to dig out a spare one that was lost. It would be my guess that DD had James cloak because he had been borrowing it for the Order to use. James it seems had parents that were well of, not rich like the Malfoys but better off then the Weasley's. The cloak may have been a gift he received while a Hogwarts, ie like Harrys Firebolt.
And did DD always have the ability to be invisible with out using the cloak, or is it something he learned to do after James was murdered, maybe it was one of the 12 uses for dragons blood? What are the 12 uses?
Along with the cloak what about Fawks, where did he come from, is he like a house elf which is inherited? Will Fawks be passed down to DD brother? Willed to Harry? And what about all the instruments that DD had in his office and the Pensive.

I had always assumed that Hagrid had either picked it up when he picked up Harry, or that Dumbledore had gone to Godric's Hollow to retrieve it, thinking that Harry would probably make good use out of it.

Of course, L&J might have simply given it to Dumbledore because they knew that the cloak would not protect them against LV... I can't help thinking that if LV can see through people's minds, he can see through people's invisibility cloaks!

But now that JKR has mentioned that it's a "possibly crucial" point - I guess it can't be so simple!

But wow, she got me sooo curious!

Hmm, this is funny. Fishy even. She's volunteering information in this way? I wasn't so emerged into fandom before HBP came out - did she do similar stuff?

Anyway, I think her formulation of the 'never asked question' could be somewhat of a red herring - or fish paste at least. She's trying to get us to wonder why Dumbledore would need the cloak. I think what's important might be that James didn't need the cloak - or that he wanted it to be kept safe for a while. She's also tried to get us to wonder what James and Lily did for a living - I think it's related to this.

Not sure where this is going, but I just find it strange that she's actually opening up lines of investigation...

You know, I experience the most curious set of feelings whenever JKR does something like this. First of all, there's ...great, I think...something new to get people going and stimulate discussion. Then there's ...wonder what it could mean. Then there's ...yeah, stop looking so hard, Lou...remember the whole H/Hr thing. Then there's ...why such a stupidly inane question anyway?

And that last one is where I'm currently at.

I knew that Dumbledore had James' cloak and that he'd given it to him in PS, and that there was probably some signifance in that, but to the point where it's actually something crucial to the plotline?! How could it possibly be so crucial? If Dumbledore didn't need it, then the way I see it, there's only a few other possibilities.

1. James didn't need it. So he either gave it to someone who did, or just plain gave it away. Does that mean he had learned to become invisible? Is that why we never saw James' death? Obviously, he's dead, and he died before Lily, so Voldemort must have been able to see him. So the logical conclusion is that he gave it away because someone else needed it. Snape? Wormtail? To hide Harry later? Well, he didn't have it when Hagrid brought him to the Dursley's.

2. James didn't want it because in some way it endangered him. Did it really belong to him, or to someone else? Is it a horcrux?

3. Someone else needed it badly. Why would someone need to be invisible? Because they're a spy? So who's a spy, Wormtail? Snape? Someone else? Did someone else need to witness whatever happened at Godric's Hollow? If so, who? And why?

I don't know. I'm a bit miffed at the moment because it just seems so incredibly inane. The invisibility cloak is the key to everything? Ergh.... Oh, I think I'm going to be disappointed in this last book....*sigh*..... What about the DoM? What about Lily's eyes? What about the Prophecy? What about Malfoy? What about Snape's betrayal? Is this it?

Dear, dear me...I thought I was over the bitterness about HBP, but clearly the sting remains.......*sigh*

I dont think the invisibility cloak is used to hide anyone. If you rememeber in philosphers stone, Dumbledore could see Harry through the invisibility cloak. Now Voldemort is atleast as great a powerful wizard like Dumbledore, so if D. can see through the cloak so can Voldemort.

Hmm, I agree that it's a bit ... whispy. The Invisibility Cloak is the answer to life, the universe and everything? Whaaat?

Also, I cannot make up my mind if I'd prefer major revelations in the last book or not. Precarious situation, imo.

The problem here that we have an uncomfortable amount of knowledge of the HP world. We know too much to theorise unrestrainedly. We know some things aren't possible anymore, so wacked out theories are less and less likely. However, the things we don't know, or the things that are called 'crucial' have nothing to back them up. The creativity needed to guess the right answer is enormous, because you basically have to fabricate connections, within a world of which the boundaries are much more defined (and restraining) than in the past.

It's weird then, when she lets out clues like this. I wouldn't want to spend hours of my time ('cause that's what it'll take) trying to prove things, which turn out to have nothing in canon to back it up, if you know what I mean...

I'm guessing (desperately and wildly) that theorising in general is not going according to plan, and she can't reveal the name ofthe book yet (or something like that), so what else is there to do to get people going again? I know, point in some direction and say it's 'crucial'!

The Black family tree thing seemed to point to something specific enough - Regulus. It could be torn apart, analysed and used as a base for theories. This is a little too vague to tempt me, really.

Let me tell you one thing:

I almost wet myself when i read the notepad section on her site... when I read that, I swear I did not breather for a couple moments while I navigated to the miscellaneous section....

Then i was dissapointed...

You see, as obsessed as I am, I thought when she said things like didnt answer a question right, couldnt get it out right, her mind went blank.. that sort of stuff.. I naturally thought it was referring to the huge revelation of Dumbledore's confirmed death... then I read the actual topic, was disapointed, and now that I think about it, it still is disapointing to get our hopes up for minor details that we know nothing about... big deal... James gave Harry his cloak via Dumbledore... unless there is some huge revelation like the Potter, under the guidance of Dumbledore willingly sacrificed themselves in a ploy to vanquish the Dark Lord... then it would be interesting...

I wish we could get something HUGE, that we could discuss, nothing that would give anythign away... just enought to get the usual ravenous desire for the next book flowing a little

~Albus

When I read about the NAQ on JKR's website, my first thought was that Dumbledore had killed Harry's parents and said that LV did it...but after further thought I think that impossible.

OK

When DD gave Harry the cloak gave gim also a note

In the note DD said that James gave DD the cloak before he died....

So what can we assume?

That James was sure about his death and he gave DD the cloak to keep it and one day give it to Harry....

Either James was sure that he was going to die or indeed he was sacrificed for the commonweal and for make Harry LV's match....

I was wrting out a really long reply, and then i pressed a button and it just disappeared never to be found again! very sad

Any way, when i first read PS/SS i thought briefly about why DD would have James' cloak. I came to the conclusion that James had given it to DD to give to Harry incase anything happened to them, and then promptly forgot about it.

I then thought about the wording that JK used, 'Crucial.' And as she's been known to be quite cunning with her wording before i thought. Aha! Maybe it can protect one from the Cruciatus curse! And then i realised that that was a bit silly and maybe i didn't get enough sleep last night

So i thought back to my original thought that James gave it to DD in order to give to Harry. But, if James and Lily were attacked they had no idea that Harry might survive the attack, JK said so herself. When Lily's begging LV to spare Harry. She's just begging and hoping that some part of LV won'tbe able to kill a baby.

So the idea, now, that James wanted his invisability cloak to be passed to Harry through DD, now doesn't seem as plausible.

Which led me to the idea that maybe James gave the cloak to DD in order to give to Sirius for some reason, who was in hiding. And DD never gave it the Sirius because DD thought that he was the spy, and didn't want to give him it. Then again, i don't particulary like Dumbledore, i never have and i quite like the idea of finding out that DD wasn't the saint everyone thinks he is.

But then again, why didn't James just give Sirius the cloak himself if James wanted him to have it.

It's enough to make the mind numb!

Mon Dieu!

Ygraine my dear, I think we need to have a little chat... haha Im just joking, to each his own of course... I just thought everyone liked Dumbledore.... how ignorant of me

AS for this discussion... hmmm what if James and Lily knew they were gonna die... and they were gonna use themselves as a trap for Lord Voldemort... perhaps Dumbledore knew exactly, right from the beginning, what a love sacrifice would do, and he persuaded Lily and James to die for their son, as well as the wizarding world... but Dumbledore did not foresee the use of a Horcrux, and there was his mistake, an old man's mistake... and Lily and James died, a very noble death yes, but without the desired results... hmmm interesting.

~Albus

Ok, I have never cared about the cloak so forgive my really lame theory.

Ok, this is based on the Mirror of Erised and the Sorting Hat. Now what do these things have in common? Answer - they are not as they seem.

The Mirror of Erised - I show not your face but your hearts desire. The first time Harry looked into it he saw his parents. The poeple he had never known who had given their lives (apparently if you believe some theories) for him. The next time he looks what happens? He gets the Philosophers Stone. Why? Because he wanted to stop Voldemort getting it.

The Sorting Hat - It thinks, talks and acts on it's own. But it also concealed something as we found out in COS. Harry pulled Godric Gryffindor's Sword out if it to battle the Basilisk and once again thwart Voldemort.

So what's this got to do with the Cloak? I think that the Cloak is hiding something. Well not the Cloak specifically but I think James and Lily found a way to hide something in there. Something important that they didn't want Voldemort or his DE's getting their murderous hands on. But, as the plot line has so often stated, I'm thinking it would be something that gives Harry the boost he needs. Love. Something that will spark a memory of when he was trully loved, when he had parents to love him. Or perhaps a weapon. Everything and Anything is open to us. But I daresay it has Love as it's main theme.

Ooo, excellent idea, Triad... I think this idea has definite possibilities. Could it have some connection to the importance of Harry having his mother's eyes? Maybe he can see something while he's wearing the cloak that no one else can. OR perhaps if he puts the cloak over something, it will actually REVEAL something to him instead of making it invisible. There are thousands of possibilities. JKR has revealed new and more complex magical spells, charms, and enchantments in every book - as if to teach us about magic right along with Harry. JKR has proven her talent for weaving characters and objects in and out of her plots across all her books proving them to be more important than we could have imagined. It seems that she is implying some great importance to the cloak that we have yet to think of or hear about. Intriguing indeed!

Very true. The invisibility cloak is unique. Some protection must have been placed on it, like the Love. The first thing that sprang to mind was luck. But it must be something more special, somehing hidden, and like Fenixong said, his mothers eyes...

Very true. The invisibility cloak is unique. Some protection must have been placed on it, like the Love. The first thing that sprang to mind was luck. But it must be something more special, somehing hidden, and like Fenixong said, his mothers eyes...

ah finally i can write my thoughts on this topic....i read jk's site and was SO weirded out ...i don't know but i think dumbledore might have known that the night james and lily were going to die that night

it sounds strange but maybe he knew the only way to hav the chosen child was by letting lily die for harry...then of course he could mould harry the way he wanted... to defeat voldy

im not completely sure on how he came to get the cloak but maybe he saw them that night and was there to make sure they died.... (he might hav been invisable) crule i know but it works ou if you think about it....

anyway thats my thought

In regards to Dumbledore being in possession of James cloak at the time of his death, I think it will turn out to be it was being used by the Order and in particular Snape in his role as spy. In POA, JK seems to indicate that Snape is familiar with the cloak and who the owner is.

Passage from POA page 357-358 when Snape reveals himself in the Shrieking Shack:

"Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.

Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. Harry felt as though he'd received a huge electric shock.

'I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow,' said Snape, throwing the cloak aside, careful to keep his wand pointing directly at Lupin's chest. 'Very useful, Potter, I thank you ....' "

How does Snape know that the Invisibility Cloak belongs to Harry and not say Lupin, Sirius or anyone else in the room. My guess is that Snape had seen and used this cloak before and knew it had belonged to James....

Hey everyone.
I've just read about the NAQ about why Dumbledore can make himself invisible without the cloak in JK's site and something just flashed into my mind: Did Dumbledore managed to make himself invisible because he was not human? He couldn't be a ghost, because ghosts glide, and he's not a poltergeist either---he's not mischevious!!!Or maybe is a human being---his animagus might be a phoenix, so he can make himself invisible or something. I know this idea is absurd. But it's kind of possible!!

That is what I was thinking too. It's the only thing I can think of. That, or it has some protective quality that only James, Lily, and Dumbledore knew about.

When I thought the second thing I remembered what Fred and George are doing, creating items with shield charms on them and such, and I remembered that Dumbledore told Harry to keep the Invisibility cloak with him at all times in HBP. This would obviously be because it makes him invisible, and thus able, perhaps, to escape sticky situations, but what if there were something more to it?

But then, if D knew something, why wouldn't he tell Harry?

Your idea with the sorting hat, and the way the mirror was able to hold the stone is a good one too. What if James or Lily did hide something within the cloak somehow? Perhaps a Horcrux they had found or something else that will be "crucial" to Harry's ability to defeat Voldy-poo. Perhaps they sent it to D because if it was intercepted it would be fairly innocious, at least, moreso than whatever they were sending, but then they were killed before they could tell D that they had hidden something inside it.

Anyway, there's no way to know. It's just another one of those theories which can only be created through speculation and guesswork. I probably wouldn't have even posted this except that alot of the other threads have dried up recently. Le sigh . . .

I like the idea of the cloak hiding something inside it somehow, or at least having some unknown properties. I've got 2 view points on this:

1) JKR said that James got his cloak from his father, so maybe this is a family object thats been passed down through the generations. This may link in with the theory that the potters are decended from Gryffindor and/or Bowman Wright (inventer of the Golden Snitch, page 14 QTtA) and may have some unknown properties from these people or becuase it is the very first invisibility cloak.

2) Maybe all invisibility cloaks have hidden properties relating to the animal that they come from, the Demiguise. At first the Demiguise looks ordinary (except for the invisibility factor), and it is even described as being 'a peaceful herbivorous beast, something like a graceful ape' (page 9, FBaWtFT). However the Demiguise has a rating of XXXX (Dangerous/requires specialist knowledge/skilled wizards mayhandle). Maybe there is something in this animal that we have not been told.

NOTE: I realise that the Demiguise may get a XXXX rating because it is invisible and hard to see/capture except by skilled wizards. However, looking throught the beasts book i can't see any other animal that has a XXXX rating that isn't also dangerous (except for the protected animals). Even the Moke only gets a XXX and that is also hard to see because in shrinks when people are near by.

One more thing that i just realised, read this from the Beasts book
TEBO = XXXX
"The Tebo is an ash-coloured warthog found in Congo and Zaire. It has the power of invisibility, making it difficult to evade or catch, and is very dangerous. Tebo hide is highly prized by wizards for protective shields and clothing."

Could Harry's cloak be made from this animal istead of a Demiguise?

Ok I agree with this...

I believe that Potters are decended from Gryffindor and that HP is GG's heir....

That' s maybe why the cloak was so precious, because the cloak was GG's ....

So Potters knew about the Horcruxes and didn't want LV to take the cloak, that' s why they gave it to DD and then DD to HP....

But that proves that indeed Potters knew about their death and that's why they gave the cloak to DD...

I also don't believe that the cloak is hiding Lilly's love or something like that....the love is in HP's blood and not inside the cloak...

Although as the cloak is the only known thing that James and Lilly leave to HP it can hide something else....

But the point is that if Potters knew anout their death they definitely knew about the prophecy and they were sacrificed not to kill LV the night that he attacked but to make Harry LV's match....

So, if this is happening, the man that actually killed Lilly and James is Dumbledore....
It can be true....look:

1. He knew that James Potter was Godric Gryffindor's Heir...

2. He also knew that LV knew that James was GG's Heir (LV was searching long ago for the four co-founders of Hogwarts, their history and their artifacts as Hfflepuff's cup etc...)

3. He also knew that LV was after Harry Potter and not Nevil Longbottom, because LV was the Heir of Slytherin and his match would be the Heir of Gryffindor...

4. He knew that the only way to stop LV was to make Harry Potter his match and he knew that to make this it had to be through Lilly's death and through this old magic she made...

5. He probably knew that Peter Pettigrew was LV's spy and that's why he told the rest of the world that he insisted to be Potter's Secret Keeper to mislead LV, but he convinced Potters to make Pettigrew their Secret Keeper for to LV come straight to them....

SO James before he died he gave DD his cloak to keep it until Harry grow up.....

I don't think James gave the cloak to Dumbledore because they knew what was gonna happen, or because they planned to sacrific themselves for Harry. THis is from PoA when Harry is getting Patronus lessons of Lupin and hears his dad when Voldermort came for him (page 178 UK HB):

'Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off - '

This sounds as though they knew Voldermort was coming after them but they weren't planning on what actually happened, or at least James wasn't.

But James could also tell this to mislead LV and to think that the whole thing wasn't a trap...

Mod Edit: Short posts are not permitted. Elaborate or don't post at all.

It would seem that the excitement over this question was relatively short lived. Really there's not much to go on except the things we've already mentioned: 1. The cloak holds something which will later become important. 2. The cloak has some form of added protection upon it such as the protection items Fred and George make at their shop.

If anyone else has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.

In regards to why Dumbledore had the invisibility cloak at the time of the Potter's deaths, I've heard (in other threads) that he may have been hiding under it. I don't think DD is that type to back away from a fight which leads me to another conclusion: Hagrid was at the Potters' the night they got murdered under the invisibility cloak.

Ok just hear me out (and if any of my facts are wrong, please let me know). I know it was Hagrid who brought Harry to Dumbledore on Privet Drive the night his parents got murdered which means he was either given orders to do so, or was there already, or both. And because he was banned from using magic (and isn't the best at it anyways) he wouldn't have been able to fight Voldy without getting annhialated so perhaps at the request of James or Lily he hid (having little time to escape).

JKR also said she disclosed the entire plot to only two very lucky souls: Alan Rickman (Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid). Snape is pretty obvious, but why did Hagrid need to know the ending in terms of how his chracter is played? I think he was at Godrics Hollow the night the murder happened and handed to DD not just Harry, but the invisibility cloak as well.

I don't think the answer will be as simple (or as complicated) as someone was hiding under the cloak that night Nagini777. The form of JK's challenge makes it seem as if there is something more to the cloak itself than merely being an object which confers invisibility.

At least to me.

I can't help but wonder if this question was not asked simply in an attempt to raise a topic of speculation for the fandom to chew on while we wait for book seven. Or, perhaps, it could be just what it seems, JK being asked a question which niggled at her until it jogged something loose a few days later, so she decided to give the question a belated answer.

King, could you elaborate on your last post? What do you mean by JK giving a belated answer and all that? I really do not understand what you mean. It sounds (to me) that you are saying someone asked a question for which she did not have an answer, and therefore decided to add it to the book.

I think that sounds about right King. I think it was probably a question that she hadn't really thought about too much and then threw out there for discussion. Why she would call it "Crucial" though, I don't know. And if someone was hiding under it, it almost certainly wouldn't have been Hagrid. He's a bit big to be entirely covered by a cloak that won't fit over two teenage boys, isn't he?

AtB,

I was referring to what she said on JK.com. in her Diary when she updated and put up the NAQ in the Extra Stuff section. It may not have been there when you read the NAQ. She was explaining that during the Q&A at the reading in NY a girl asked "Are there any questions you've never been asked that you think should have been?

JK said she could not think of any at the time, but later she thought of this so decided to update the site with a belated answer.

hmm.. well good observation i thought the exact same thing, and how dumbledore ended up with it? well jkr said that how dumbledore ended up with it will be crucial in the seventh book, I was thinking is it a horcrux that dumbledore got ahold of, the horcrux that was once gg's?

Welcome to Veritaserum ml3,

I think the horcrux may be the invisibility cloak but dont you think DD would know that? Wouldnt he feel that magical presence?

Ah, I see what you mean now. Getting back to the theory. Why did Dumbledore have the cloak? We know he could become invisible. So he was not hiding himself. He must have been hiding someone else or something else. It is possible that the cloak was being used by someone watching the Godric's Hollow (but not the house, they would not be able to see it since they did not know the secret). Maybe they were taking shifts watching for signs of Voldemort to show up. This could be the reason why Dumbledore was able to act so quickly after the Potters died.

I think that the theory about watching the house is plausible but there has to be more to it. Why would James give the cloak to DD in the first place? If JK left us clues they have to be very small and seem extremely insugnificant at the time. In SS/PS DD tells Harry, "Ah -- your father happened to leave it in my possession. I thought you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Useful things... your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here." There are 2 lines that seem to jump out at me since JK dropped this bombshell on us:

1) "your father happened to leave it in my possession."
Did JK ever really say that James gave the cloak to DD? If not, then what events lead him to have it?

2) "Useful things..."
Is DD talking about invisibility cloaks in general or is there more to the cloak than meets the eye?

If there is a secret pocket then it most likely is not a horcrux due to the fact that DD didn't know where the other horcruxes were. If James or Lily found a horcrux then they would most likely tell DD about it. Then why couldn't it be a letter or document pretaining to either the horcruxes of LV himself?

I like the theory about someone watching the house at GH. Even if they couldn't see it, they could watch for LV to show up. I assume DD showed up to verify what happened then left. Hagrid only mentions Harry, Serius and muggles. Would DD have left Harry alone? I think not. Whoever was under the cloak was still under it when Hagrid and Serius arrived. It must have been someone DD didn't want known to have helped him. JKR said is wasn't Snape under the cloak but I don't see who it was or how it could matter.