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Why did Dumbledore have James' cloak?

by David Haber

On a new post on her official web site, J.K. Rowling admitted she made a mistake in New York when she was asked, what question have you never been asked that you ought to have been asked? She now says the question should have been, Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?

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Reader Comments: (Page 71)

Maybe Voldemort did use the cloak as a horcrux and his soul is still in it and it is so important because as long as Harry is wearing it Voldemort wouldn't do anything to Harry because it would destroy the horcrux?

Posted by Sam from England on July 14, 2007 11:49 AM

Sue:

I don't think that's propable because Hagrid brought Harry to his aunt and uncle's house. Not Dumbledore. So, there's a chance that he never went to the house, if he did, are we to believe that he left Harry there?

Posted by Matthew Gunn from Peoria, Arizona on July 14, 2007 5:07 PM

I continue to think the important clue was in the note Dumbledore wrote with the Christmas present: the cloak IS RETURNED to you.

That sure seems to imply that Harry had 'used' or had it before.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the "lost hours" between the time Lily and James d, and the time Harry is delivered to the Durselys -- that is, the rest of the Halloween night, all the next day, then arriving at the Dursleys the next night.

Seems to me that maybe the cloak was used to "hide" the baby Harry during those hours.

What DID happen between the time of the s on Halloween, and the NEXT night when Hagrid brought Harry to the Dursleys? I don't know, but it seems feasible that Harry might have had to be 'hidden' under it.

Posted by Cate from San Antonio TX on July 14, 2007 6:03 PM

Cate:

Not very probable. If baby Harry is under the invisability cloak, who covered him after Voldemort attacked him and how'd Hagrid find him? We all know Hagrid has no magical apptitude due to his early expeltion.

Also, Sam:

There's no way that it's a Horcrux of Voldemort because Dumbledore would have destroyed it as soon as he knew, he wouldn't not tell Harry *due to the fact that he shared all he knew about the Horcruxes with him* plus, we know that Voldemort could easily get the cloak away from Harry in a fight. Not much of an advantage. Knowing Voldemort, he would most likely risk destorying one part of his soul to finish Harry "The Chosen One," to finish all the dribble about who who.

Posted by Matthew from Peoria, Arizona on July 14, 2007 8:03 PM

Cate: your theory, I think is the most believable, and I think everybody is forgetting the secret guardian (wormtail), if you remember, JKR explains how the fidelio charm works in her web, how is possible that everybody can go to the potter's house if anyone know where is it? at least I'm asking myself that question or I missed somtheing about it.
And how is possible that Petunia were in the potter's house if she doesn't know anything about Harry until she found him outside of her door?
I just think that we have to wait for the book to find all the answers, but in the meantime is funny to be suspicius.

Posted by tania from mexico on July 15, 2007 01:31 AM

Well...I can see how that would be a possible conclusion to come to. But in order to create a Horcrux, James would have had to have ed someone. We never have evidence that he did, though I wouldn't be surprised if he had ed a Eater somewhere along the way, though that is a large assumption to make.
So the question then would be whether or not James ed someone.

Posted by Becca from Eagle, Idaho on July 15, 2007 12:58 PM

During the lost 24 hours, as long as Harry was still at Godric's Hollow he would have been hidden by the fidelius charm and wouldn't need the cloak....perhaps he wasn't at Godric's Hollow for all that time or the cloak was needed for something else?

Posted by Joe from England on July 15, 2007 4:44 PM

But if Petunia was the one under the cloak and knew what had happened...why was she so suprised to find Harry on her doorstep?

"not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles..." p18 PS

Unless the scream is not one of surprise but horror because finding Harry there means that the worst has happened and James and Lily are . Implying that Petunia was involved beforehand in plans to take care of Harry should anything happen to Lily and James...Vernon definitely was not.

Posted by Joe from England on July 15, 2007 5:26 PM

I think that the "returned to you" comment in the note is very important and I tend to think Snape is also involved.

Posted by Ker from Canada on July 15, 2007 10:59 PM

A lot of people here asked the question that how could Hagrid and Sirius find the Potter's house if Pettigrew was the secret keeper. I think a possible answer to that question is that not the house was hidden by the Fidelius charm, but only the location of the Potters. Remember the conversation in POA at Rosmerta's where Flitwick explains the charm, he sais something like "Voldemort wouldn't saw them, even if he were standing in the middle of their room." (I don't have the exact english text, I translated it from Hungarian).

Posted by Gabor from Szeged, Hungary on July 16, 2007 02:35 AM

they mention in the OotP that the order trade cloaks around as needed, so maybe dumbledore was on his way to give it to someone else and wasn't trying to protect it.
Dumbledore never says that James intended for him to give the cloak to Harry just that he left it in his possession.
I like the theory that it belonged to Godric and thats why he gave it to Dumbledore but Dumbledore says that the only known relic of Godrics is his sword and why would James keep it secret?

Posted by Anonymous on July 16, 2007 11:48 AM

Might be taking a wild shot here but do remember that Dumbledore can see people under the invisible cloak. people might just say because he's that powerful but what if he created it? there has to be another explaination.

Posted by chelsie from florida on July 16, 2007 12:47 PM

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