Some Pointers? (Incorporating Re: JKR question about Cloak)

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 168236

> Aussie: 

> Voldemort himself is the greatest Occlemist in the WW. 

Goddlefrood:

He's only stated as being a good Legilimens, one of the best two,
he and DD ;). That he may have good Occlumency skills too is not
actually established, although he did something that prevented 
the link to Harry that prevailed throughout OotP by the time HBP 
opened. This is clear from Harry's own thoughts on the subject
and is confirmed by DD to Harry.

There's too little to go on to state with certainty, IOW, if LV
is a good Occlumens or not. What is clear enough is that some
are good at one cognitive type skill without necesarily being 
good at the other (meaning Occlumency and Legilimency, just for
clarity).

> Aussie:

> The Longbottoms were Aurers. At that time of Death Eaters 
> attacking everywhere, they couldn't disappear without the 
> contents of the professy becoming known.

Goddlefrood:

Well, agreed the Longbottoms were Aurors, but the attack on them 
took place about a year after LV's downfall at Godric's Hollow. 
>From the Pensieve scene relative to the four culprits who 
tortured Frank and Alice into insanity I formed the impression 
that Bella, her husband and her brother-in-law had been 
suspected of having been DEs after LV's downfall, but like 
Lucius, had got off on an Imperius Curse defence. 

Barty Crouch Jnr, in my divination had not been suspected of 
being a DE prior to his having been caught together with Bella. 
Even during their sentencing proceedings it is clear that the 
most surprised person in the Chamber is Barty Crouch Snr, 
despite his efforts to keep things businesslike. He may never 
have fully believed his son was a DE, at least until the point 
where he was killed ;) by him.

This is not an unusual viewpoint that I take, it is strengthened 
somewhat by the circumstances surrounding the swap of Barty Jnr
and his mother. If Barty Snr is to be accepted on face value as
having been the most obsessed dark wizard catcher, which his 
son in the guise of Mad-Eye says (so maybe not a wholly unbiased
testimony :)), then is it likely that he would have capitulated,
and he did capitulate, to his wife's dying request and sprung
Barty Jnr from Azkaban ?. It certainly left an odd feeling with
this reader ;)

Why could the Longbottoms not have disappeared without the 
contents of the Prophecy becoming known? Perhaps you might 
care to expand somewhat on that point and clarify it. It is,
after all, established canon, and barring other speculations
for the purposes of this reply, that Dumbledore and Harry were
the only two to know the full contents of the same. While JKR
has said something about Neville being the other boy to whom 
the Prophecy could have referred, it has not been said that
any whom the Prophecy may have concerned were aware of its
contents back in the day, except perhaps in a vague way that 
meant they may have known that to remain in the open was not 
a good idea ;)

> Aussie:

> ... And are we any closer to know WHY DD HAD THE CLOAK?

Goddlefrood:

Not so far :), but we are to divine why DD had the Invisibility
Cloak when HE HIMSELF could become invisible without one. I have
had some thoughts on this previously, although I have chosen to
keep them obscured from all but a select few, thus far ;)

I'll not go too deeply into the reasoning behind what follows, 
but to put it simply James may have given his cloak to DD for
several reasons, some of which are in this list:

(i) DD had asked to borrow it for some Order business, perhaps
so that someone could keep an eye on something, like in OotP
with the DoM entrance.

(ii) Same as above, but so that someone could keep an eye on 
the general location of someone or some people who were thought
in need of having an eye kept on them. This could well even
include a person or persons hidden by a certain charm, it would
be safe enough to posit, as I do, that it is not necessary to
see a *particular* location in order to be able to keep watch
over the general area of that *particular* location in case
some visitors who were not supposed to be in that general area
showed up uninvited (except by rats ;))

(iii) James may have given it because he had no use for it 
himself at the time, although this may seem less likely.

(iv) At the more bizarre end of the scale James may have given
it to DD because his need for it was greater than James's as 
James had some inkling of and preparedness for his own death. 
Why then let LV get his hands on it? Give it to DD for 
safekeeping to later pass it on to Harry, which he in fact did
do in PS/SS.

All the above have problems, not the least of which is that
Mad-Eye also probably had one or two Invisibility Cloaks
lying around ;).

Would this meet the case, perhaps? Any other thoughts out there?

Goddlefrood wondering if Barty Jnr may turn up as a leading 
Dementor or Inferi in DH :-?