I'm putting my Pirate obsession on hold...and obsessing on Harry Potter instead

So I might as well post my theories before the book comes out so I can either gloat or laugh at them later.

JK Rowling has said that the one question she has never been asked but always thought she should be asked is WHY Dumbledore had James Potter's Invisibility Cloak. She has said the answer is very important, even Crucial to the story.

edited to add: JKR has also said James inherited the cloak from his father--it was a family heirloom (he also inherited a decent amount of money)


Okay, so in my mind there are a few firmly established facts:
1. Dumbledore had the cloak at the time of the Potter's death, and was not at Godric's Hollow
2. James had given Dumbledore the cloak.
3. Dumbledore did not need the cloak--as he could make himself invisible without one (as told to Harry in the Mirror of Erised scene).

And I personally do not believe, as others do, that James would give away the cloak on the off-chance he might die and Harry might survive. They were going into hiding, and they probably thought they would be successful at hiding, and if they weren't they were ALL dead...no one had ever survived Voldemort's killing curse before.

So the question is still WHY James gave Dumbledore the cloak.

My personal theory is that Dumbledore knew the Prophecy, and because Snape upon finding out Voldemort was going after the Potters had repented and told him exactly what Voldemort knew. Because Dumbledore told them of the prophecy the Potter's went into hiding. Now if the Potter's were in hiding they would have good use for an invisibility cloak, so it must have been something related to their protection or a VERY, VERY good cause (one that would mean giving less than every possible advantage to Harry) that led James to give away his Cloak.

My wild guess is that Dumbledore wanted to borrow the Cloak so that Snape could return to Voldemort without Voldemort knowing he had visited Dumbledore and warned him of the Potter's peril. If Snape had not returned Voldemort would have known something was amiss and would have thought Snape a traitor and might have questioned the verity of the original prophecy. aside-->of course had he not fulfilled the prophecy and "marked his equal" there would be no-one to stop him. Could Dumbledore, knowing the FULL prophecy, in some ways WANTED him to mark his equal? What kind of guilt would he have felt over that?
Snape then would have returned the cloak to Dumbledore after Voldemort's disappearance. (this would also explain how Snape seemed to know that Harry had an invisibility cloak throughout the first couple of books (although he never accused him) and it would fulfil the requisite angst Harry always has over anything Snape-related if Snape had used the cloak himself when it could have been protecting James & Lily)

...But this is just my wild guess.

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