TBAY: Who gives an Inv. cloak to a kid anyway?

[Cindy C. <cindysphynx@comcast.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51883

After a long day of doing whatever it is that people do in a safe 
house, Melody yawns widely and decides to call it a night.  She 
turns off her alarm clock, crawls under the covers, and pulls them 
up over her head.  She quickly falls into a light, fitful sleep with 
images of ferocious hurricanes and hideous shipwrecked theories 
flickering through her subconscious.

"You know, I really like your theory about the Cloak, Melody."

Melody startles wildly, kicking her bedding onto the floor.  She 
fumbles for her glasses and peers about until she sees Cindy, 
standing inches from the foot of her bed.  "What are *you* doing 
here?!" she gasps.

"You call this place a safe house?" Cindy says brightly.  "You left 
the door wide open.  Anyone could have walked right in.  And anyone 
just did."

"Uh . . . do you think . . . could you possibly come back in the 
morning?" Melody stammers.

"Goodness, no!" Cindy says, sliding a straight-backed chair out of 
the corner and positioning it next to Melody's bed.  "We have to 
figure out this Cloak thing *right now.*"  She leans back and laces 
her fingers behind her head, heaving her mud-caked boots heavily on 
Melody's bed.  

"See, I like your observation that no sane parent up and gives 
something like an Invisibility Cloak to a teenage boy.  How 
irresponsible can you be?" Cindy says.

Melody forces her eyes up from the brown streaks of soil on her pink 
bedspread.  "Er, right," she says, her interest piqued.  "How is it 
that James got that Cloak, and how is it that he got to have and use 
that Cloak while he was still at Hogwarts?  We know that James 
inherited his Invisibility Cloak; therefore, it came from his 
family.  Invisibility Cloaks are rare and very prized.  The type of 
thing inherited, yes.  Also, the type of thing rich, pure blood 
families have laying around."

Melody pulls her pajamas around herself more tightly and goes 
on.  "The reasoning there is because a pure blood family would pass 
down such items, and the rich because they could afford it.  Afford 
to buy *and* keep it.  They do not need to sell it for profit at 
anytime in their history."

"Hang on there," Cindy breaks in.  "That's very possible, but there 
might be another explanation.  How many Invisibility Cloaks have we 
seen in the wizarding world so far?"

"Two."

"Or maybe even three," Cindy counters.  "Harry has the one his 
father left for him.  We know that Crouch Jr. was forced to wear a 
Cloak as a prisoner in his own home for a decade.  And we see Fake 
Moody use an Invisibility Cloak when he attacked Krum."

Melody wrinkles her forehead in concentration.  "Three Cloaks, huh?  
I never thought of that."

"Well, it's possible that the Cloak Fake Moody uses to conceal 
himself is a different Cloak than the one Crouch Sr. used to hide 
Crouch Jr. all those years," Cindy says thoughtfully.  "It's 
possible.  But I like to think that the one Fake Moody uses is the 
same Cloak Crouch Sr. and Winky used to conceal Crouch Jr.  After 
all, we know Invisibility Cloaks are rare, and we never see Wormtail 
or Voldemort or Crouch Sr. use a Cloak after Fake Moody arrives at 
Hogwarts, and you would certainly expect them to use it for 
something, if they still had it.  It could be three Cloaks, but I 
rather doubt it.  I prefer to go with two Cloaks, myself.  Real 
Moody didn't own an Invisibility Cloak, I think."

"You sure about that?" Melody challenges.  She reaches under her bed 
and pulled out a bright yellow flag and a copy of GoF and extends 
both of them to Cindy.  "Take your pick," she says softly.

Cindy swallows and reaches for GoF.  She flips quickly through GoF, 
pausing at "Veritaserum," and begins to read from Crouch Jr.'s 
confession:

"'I was forced to wear *an* Invisibility Cloak day and night.'  
Hmmm, that's not much help at all, is it?" Cindy says.  "Let's keep 
going.  'Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark detectors, put 
them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts.'"  

Cindy looks up, smiling broadly.  "Hmmm.  No mention of packing up 
an Invisibility Cloak.  See, that sounds like Crouch Jr. didn't take 
Moody's Invisibility Cloak, probably because Crouch Jr. either 
already had one or Moody didn't.  Crouch Jr. is specific about 
taking the Dark detectors.  Had he taken Moody's Cloak, he would 
have definitely said so.

"Not only that," Cindy goes on hurriedly, "Crouch Jr. asserts 
ownership of the Cloak later in his confession:  'I pulled on *my* 
Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet [Crouch Sr.].'"

"But what difference does it make?"

"Oh, it might make no difference at all.  Or it might make *all* the 
difference," Cindy says.  "If Fake Moody is using Crouch Sr.'s old 
Cloak as I believe, then we have some information about what type of 
person owns an Invisibility Cloak –- people like Crouch Sr., that's 
who."

"Yeah," Melody snarls, "psychotic, controlling, ambitious, abusive, 
work-a-holic, bent people like Crouch Sr., who deserves to roast --"

"You've been reading Elkins, I see," says Cindy in a low 
voice.  "No, I was thinking more along the lines of what we can 
discern about Cloak ownership from Crouch Sr.'s position.  Crouch 
Sr. was the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.  Crouch Sr. has an 
Invisibility Cloak.  Could that mean that Invisibility Cloaks are 
the tools of those in the higher echelons of law enforcement?  That 
wizarding world Top Cops tend to have these prized Invisibility 
Cloaks?"

"Hmmm," Melody says.  "I guess that's possible.  So what?"

"So what?!" Cindy cries, leaping to her feet.  "So what?!  I think 
you're right that the only way James gets that Cloak while he's at 
Hogwarts is if his parents are dead and he inherits it -– just like 
Harry did.  If we're right about this, then this might tell us what 
Harry's grandparents did for a living.  Maybe, just maybe, one or 
both of Harry's paternal grandparents were big shots at the 
Department of Magical Law Enforcement, just like Crouch Sr.!

"And maybe," Cindy adds solemnly, "it cost them their lives."

Melody sits in stunned silence for a moment.  Then she says, "We 
should spend more time figuring out who else might have an 
Invisibility Cloak.  I wish we had canon.  Or even an inference –- 
something -– anything to go on."

"Well," Cindy says in a hushed tone, "we can veer off canon for a 
minute and hope no one catches us . . . " 

"Oh, no!" Melody cries.  "I'm not going off canon.  I might never 
get back!  No way.  If you go off canon, you'll have to go by 
yourself," she says firmly.  Melody pulls the blankets around 
herself snugly and sits hugging her knees, rocking gently back and 
forth.

"Oh, good grief!"  Cindy sighs heavily and hesitates a moment to 
allow Melody to reconsider, and then takes the plunge.  "You know 
who else might have had an Invisibility Cloak?  It has always 
bothered me that the Pensieve Four left Neville alive and probably 
un-tortured.  What were they *thinking?*  Why wouldn't they torture 
the toddler in the hope of making Frank talk?  

"The answer could be very simple.  If Invisibility Cloaks are owned 
by those in law enforcement, and if Frank is a popular auror, it is 
not much of a leap to think perhaps Frank owned a Cloak.  Maybe when 
the Pensieve Four burst into the Longbottoms home, Mrs. Longbottom 
put the Cloak on Neville, hiding him.  If you like, she can also 
Stun him to keep him still and quiet.  And as it turns out, it is 
the last thing she does for Neville."

A large tear slips down Melody's cheek, and she uses the blanket to 
wipe it away roughly.  "That's so sad!  That would be the ultimate 
sacrifice –- a mother choosing to shield her child at the cost of 
her own life."

"Yup, it sounds familiar, doesn't it?  It's thematically consistent, 
see.  Lily saved Harry.  Mrs. Longbottom saved Neville," Cindy says 
simply.  "Harry and Neville might have more in common than they 
think."

"Yeah, but if Neville's parents had a Cloak, where is it?  Surely 
Neville doesn't have it."

"No, Neville doesn't have it.  And Dumbledore doesn't have it, 
because he'd give it to Neville if he did.  I think I know who has 
that Cloak, though."

"Who?"

"Gran, of course," says Cindy.  "Gran would be just the type to keep 
the Cloak from Neville until he proved himself ready for it.  You 
know . . . Responsible.  Magical.  Powerful.  Gran keeps Neville on 
a short leash, and he'll get that Cloak when she's darn good and 
ready to give it to him.  And that," Cindy says with a wink, "will 
be when the reader least expects it.

"So what do you think of our little trip off canon, Melody?"

"I –- uh, I dunno," Melody says slowly.  "Actually, I was far more 
concerned with getting some *sleep,* if you don't mind."  She tipped 
her head in the direction of the door.

"Oh!  Goodness, where are my manners!  I'm *so* sorry to keep you 
up!" Cindy cries.  "That was really thoughtless of me.  I don't know 
what I was thinking disturbing you like that.  You go on back to 
sleep." 

Cindy scoots her chair backward into the shadows in the corner and 
extinguishes the lamp with a flick of her wand.  "I'll just wait 
right here so we can sort this out first thing in the morning."

****************

Cindy

*****************

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visit Hypothetic Alley at

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