Possession of the Cloak

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“His passion … was the work he had taken over from Illyan….

No. The work Haroche had taken away from Illyan.

Oh.

… I’m blind, blind, blind! Motive! What’s an elephant got to do around here, to advance and be recognized?” Miles Vorkosigan in Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold

A word in a prepositional phrase can sometimes make all the difference in the world.

Why was Albus in possession of the Cloak at the time of the Potters’ deaths?



Marionros wrote in answer to my post positing that Albus hadn’t originally suspected Tom of creating Horcruxes because Albus assumed instead that Tom (who’d apparently come into possession of the Resurrection Stone) was hunting Hallows:

This might be the reason why Albus so desperately wanted James (and thusly James' minions) in his Order straight out of school, and why Albus let the Marauders run wild while still at school. James was the descendant of the Peverells and the owner of the Cloak. Heaven forbid that James ever, ever threw in his dice with Tom's lot.

Well. If Albus had had his eye on the Peverall/Potter cloak for years….

*

We listened to Albus confirm all Harry’s guesses on the matter at King’s Cross:

“You have guessed, I know, why the Cloak was in my possession on the night your parents died. James had showed it to me just a few days previously…. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I asked to borrow it, to examine it. I had long since given up my dream of uniting the Hallows, but I could not resist, could not help taking a closer look…. and then your father died, and I had two Hallows at last, all to myself!”

His tone was unbearably bitter.

“The Cloak wouldn’t have helped them survive, though,” Harry said quickly. “Voldemort knew where my mum and dad were. The Cloak couldn’t have made them curse-proof.”

“True,” sighed Dumbledore. “True.”

“…somehow, we never discussed the Cloak much, Harry. Both of us could conceal ourselves well enough [truer words!] without the Cloak, the true magic of which, of course, is that it can be used to protect and shield others as well as its owner.” (DH 35)

So. Moments after agreeing with Harry that the Cloak couldn’t possibly have helped James or Lily, Albus contradicted this to tell Harry that the Cloak’s “true magic” is that it can be used to shield oneself and others simultaneously. I.e., that Lily maybe could have used it to sneak past Tom with Harry in her arms, had she been bold and cool-headed enough.

And had she in fact possessed the Cloak.

Which Dumbledore took before Harry’s birthday, not in late October as he told Harry. And which he kept. For months.

Despite knowing that the Cloak’s rightful owner, and his family, were being hunted. In mortal peril. In need of a way to hide.

Lily’s letter to Sirius, written in early August: “James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell—also, Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions.” (DH 10)

Still.

Meaning, Sirius had already been told that Dumbledore had taken the Cloak. However, it’s news to be imparted that Peter visited “last weekend” and shared the news about the McKinnons. So as of Harry’s birthday it had been a week, at least (most likely—not likely much less, and quite possibly much more, depending on how often Lily sees or writes Sirius) since Dumbledore had “borrowed” it.

And it’s news to be imparted that Dumbledore still has it.

Meaning, Sirius might reasonably have expected the item to have been returned by now.

That “still,” and the mention of James’s frustration at being denied his little excursions, carries a very faint whiff of implication that maybe James hadn’t expected the loan to go on for quite so long. “May I borrow it for just a few days, to examine it more closely?”

A few days which somehow, inexplicably, dragged out for three months. To the end of James’s life.

*

That Cloak, which “can be used to protect and shield others as well as its owner,” was not kept from its rightful owner’s possession despite Albus’s concerns that Lord Voldemort might be catching up to the Potters. Albus kept it because of those concerns.

*

Albus was willing, while he thought there was no immediate chance of wresting the Stone from Tom, to leave the Cloak in the custody of his loyal supporter, knowing full well that he could “borrow” it whenever he chose.

If there was no imminent prospect of uniting all three, having indirect access was quite sufficient.

But Albus couldn’t risk Tom getting hold of the thing when he killed the Potters. Getting two of the three. Needing only to defeat the Deathstick’s master (which might be done by treachery or guile or chance; Tom didn’t have to be more powerful or brilliant than Albus in general to win a momentary, wand-stealing victory) to complete the set.

So once Albus decided Tom might be closing in on James and Lily, he took the Cloak.

Decreasing their chances of surviving the coming encounter, of course, but for the very best of causes.

For the Greater Good, really. “To save others from it.” To protect it.

We should applaud his selflessness.

Clap.

Clap?

Comments

Sybil's entrance

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Ooh, that's ingenious. It requires deus ex machina-level tight timing, and that the working cabinet transmit sound--and do so TO one location while AT the other location. (Neither of which was true when Montague was trapped; he couldn't make himself heard at all, anywhere, and he heard sound EITHER from the shop OR from Hogwarts, not ever both simultaneously. Whereas your theory requires Professor Trelawney, in Hogwarts, to hear Draco whooping in triumph while he's physically at Borgin & Burke's.)

I like your idea that the room itself might have pushed Trelawney out in response to Draco's return to mastery of the room. However, that it's Draco's return ITSELF automatically reinstating his standing instructions is contradicted by the fact that the room first went pitch-black. So the room did not hurl Trelawney out immediately upon Draco's return. Either Draco did, as you posit, have time to throw Peruvian Darkness Powder, or the room was obeying Draco's current mental orders, "Hide Me! And get rid of her?" in that order.

In either case, we do clearly have here the situation I earlier thought to be missing: a case of two people, both physically within the room, with directly conflicting requirements: "who's there?" versus "don't reveal me/get rid of her!"

And Draco wins hands down on both.

System administrator access, I tell you!

Chapter 21 of HBP has Harry try for a solid hour to get in while he knows Draco is elsewhere. Later in the chapter Harry tries repeatedly to gain entrance while Draco IS in the room. Both attempts fail equally.

BTW, my theory still works despite the elves if Draoo's instructions had been "keep Harry Potter and any of his followers from seeing what I am doing!" Though one would think it would be more natural to bar everyone....