More thoughts on the Cloak

[abergoat]

No: HPFGUIDX 158466

Swizzlewand wrote:
> Lily and James knew Voldemort was after them, and either there 
> was something special about the cloak and they did not want it 
> to fall into LV's hands, or else they purposely hid something 
> in it - perhaps for safekeeping. 

Abergoat adds:
Or Dumbledore convinced them that giving the cloak to him so one
of Dumbledore's Voldemort spies could keep an invisible ear to the
ground to hear if Voldemort had learned of Fidelius and was going
after the Secret Keeper...it may have even been James idea.

Interesting idea about Lily charming the cloak, I don't have 
anything further to offer though...

Nate wrote:
> So, if James and Lily left the house in Godric's Hollow, they 
> would be vulnerable. Is it possible that Dumbledore confiscated 
> the cloak to stop James from leaving the house?

Abergoat writes:
I think Dumbledore let people make their own decisions (or he would
have insisted that he be the Secret Keeper) so I doubt he confiscated
it.

Nate wrote:
> a) why didn't the Potters use Dumbledore as their secret keeper? 
> He seems to be the strongest option.

Abergoat writes:
This one fascinates me too. If the Potters knew Voldemort was after
Harry, why wouldn't they pick the absolute safest Secret Keeper? I
worry Imperius came into play - it wouldn't be hard for Peter - Sirius
and the Potters wanted to trust him, he was their friend. They would
be vulnerable to Imperius even if they are normally resistant to it.
OotP supports this, saying people are more vulnerable to Imperius because
they don't know Voldemort has returned.


Nate wrote:
> b) what defenses were in place to protect the Longbottoms, the 
> other family believed to be part of the prophecy? We know that the 
> Lestranges and Crouch Jnr were able to get at them soon after the 
> Potters' demise.

Abergoat writes:
This as another excellent line of thought. We don't hear that the
Longbottoms were using Fidelius... And the bar discussion in PoA
seems like it would mention that.

JKR makes clear that the Lestranges (she doesn't mention Barty Jr)
where 'sent' after the Longbottoms and knew nothing of the prophecy.
Lucius Malfoy (and Rufus Scrimgeour) benefited enormously from the
Longbottom incident:

1) Bella, who wants everyone to look for Voldemort, is jailed
2) Barty Sr, who is vigorously pursuing DEs, is brought down
3) Frank Longbottom, a very popular Auror, is removed from the line of
succession

So Malfoy, a DE, avoids his sister-in-laws pressure to search 
for Voldemort, avoids being arrested as a DE and has a family 
friend, Rufus (OotP) move up through the ranks of the Auror 
Office faster than he might have. Way too convenient.

I wouldn't be surprised of young DE Barty Jr told the truth at
his trial, he hadn't been anywhere near the Longbottoms.

Abergoat