"Seeing" through invisility cloaks (WAS Re: Imperio'd Member of the Order)

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 92674

Pippin wrote:
 
> It is also not clear that Dumbledore can see through the cloak. 
> Perhaps he saw only  Harry's reflection in the Mirror of Erised. An 
> intriguing possibility is that Snape was there, saw who killed 
> Sirius, but can't reveal it without blowing his cover.

and Berit replied:
 
> ...It's not only the incident of the Mirror of 
> Erised; Dumbledore was also very much aware of Harry and Ron's 
> presence in Hagrid's hut when Fudge came to arrest Hagrid in CoS...

> So, this suggests quite strongly DD knew they were there. If it's 
> only a "feeling" he gets, some sort of radar, or if his eyesight 
> physically is able to penetrate the fabric of the cloak we don't 
> know, but from the "flickering of his eyes" it's safe to assume he 
> can see through invisibility cloaks.


It certainly suggests strongly that Dumbledore knew they were there, 
and knew more or less where they were standing.  But I certainly 
don't think we can assume he can see through the cloak because of 
this. 

A person wearing an invisibilty cloak still takes up space.  An 
observant person could detect the presence of a two-student sized 
invisble object by any number of clues: differences in the way dust 
behaves around it, tracks on the floor (they had after all just 
walked across the school grounds), sound of breathing, etc.  Since 
Dumbledore knew Harry and Ron were likely to visit Hagrid at this 
point, he may have been looking for these signs.  Also, Hagrid isn't 
known for his subtlety; he may have glanced toward Harry and Ron when 
first opening the door to make sure they were hidden, something that 
Dumbledore surely wouldn't have missed.

During the Mirror of Erised incident, Dumbledore never implied that 
he could see invisibility cloaks.  Ron and Harry had both removed it 
the night Dumbledore observed them, and Harry had again taken it off 
when he met Dumbledore and had the conversation. (I also believe 
Dumbledore's comment about becoming invisible was not literal, but 
I've discussed that in other posts).

-Corinth